Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Antonius Block There is a lot to like about this 65 minute pre-Code film from 1932. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. is charming as a hobo who finds some money and befriends a chorus girl (Joan Blondell) who needs money for a train ticket. Blondell is brilliant and the relationship that develops between the two of them is touching. Director Alfred E. Green tells a great story – introducing the area of a train station with scenes of sassiness and levity, and then using lots of fluid camera movement while keeping almost all of the action there. Peppered throughout the film are salacious little moments that keep it lively without going over-the-top, and little touches such as the railway employee melodiously yelling "All Aboard!". It's not a heavy drama or anything, but as criminals and the cops close in while trying to find counterfeit money, there are moments of tension. The chase through the train yard is excellent, and in one moment it actually appears as though a train bumps Alan Hale. The ending was a very nice touch and I loved it so much I bumped my rating up, but won't spoil it. Very entertaining.

zardoz-13 "Invasion U.S.A." director Alfred E. Green's charming little romantic thriller "Union Depot" qualifies as a pleasant bit of escapism. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Blondell, Alan Hale, Guy Kibbee, and David Matthau comprise the capable cast in this Warner Brothers' release. Scenarists Kenyon Nicholson of "Laughing Sinners" and Walter DeLeon of "Pot o' Gold" adapted the play penned by Joe Laurie Jr., Gene Fowler, and Douglas Dirkin and writers Kubec Glasmon and John Bright handled the dialogue. "Union Depot" chronicles the escapades of two jailbirds just released from the city lock-up and have gone to Union Depot to rustle up with dough. Chic Miller (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. of "Little Caesar") and his woebegone hobo cohort, Scrap Iron Scratch (Guy Kibbee of "Babbitt"), set about scavenging around Union Depot. Scrap Iron stays out of sight, while Chic indulges in harmless kleptomania. The wiry Miller enters the restroom and slips into an official uniform of a Union Depot Information Agent and then later sheds the uniform. Fortune smiles on him when another passenger, an absent-minded drunk (Frank McHugh of "All Through the Night"), abandoned his suitcase in a toilet stall. Incredibly enough, despite their obvious difference in height and weight, Miller dons some of the drunk's apparel and finds a wad of bills. Off he goes to enjoy a decent meal. Meantime, Scrap Iron finds a pawn shop claim ticket and turns it over to his buddy. Chic takes the claim check to the pawnshop and he looks glum when the clerk returns with a violin case. Chic is poised to sell violin when he takes a peeks inside. He discovers bundles of bank notes. Indeed, the violin belongs to a crook, The Baron - aka Bushy Sloan (Alan Hale of "Santa Fe Trail") who has it stuffed with counterfeit bank notes. He lost the claim check at the depot, and he has been hanging around to recover it.Meantime, as a change of pace, Chic enjoys the advantages of having folding money. He runs into a chorus girl at Union Depot, Ruth Collins (Joan Blondell of "The Public Enemy"), treats her to dinner. He listeners to her sob story about catching a train to Salt Lake City where she can rejoin a dancing troupe. Initially, Chic thought that she might be a prostitute, but he learns that she had broken her ankle and desperately needs enough money to get to Salt Lake City where she can rejoin her dance company. Chick tries to behave like a carefree bachelor, but he is obviously attracted to Ruth. He buys her a ticket on the next train to Salt Lake City and gives her enough loot to buy a new dress. Chic doesn't realize, however, but The Baron has been shadowing him. The Baron saw Chic break out a fresh batch of bills, and the wrapper flutters to the floor where the Baron recognizes it from his stash of cash. Eventually, we learn through the character of Federal Agent Kendall (David Matthau of "Horse Feathers") that the money that Chic and Ruth have been flashing is counterfeit. Kendall arrests them, and Chic cuts a bargain with him to turn loose Ruth because she has not been a part of this crime. Chic leads Kendall's partner to where he cached the cash, but The Baron follows them and shoots the Federal agent with Chic. Chic and The Baron chase each other through the railway yard. At one point, these two are running around actual trains. Eventually, Chic catches up with The Baron, and Kendall arrests The Baron, while setting the other characters free.Fast-paced and funny, "Union Depot" is a glimpse into the past about transportation. Nobody in the first-rate class gives a bad performance. Clocking in at 67 minutes, "Union Depot" ranks as an above-average thriller with sympathetic characters and a dastardly villain.

JohnHowardReid An amazing movie, credited to director Alfred E. Green of all people, with truly astonishing camera-work by Sol Polito, here reveling in this opportunity to wave goodbye forever to the restrictive sound-proof booth. Setting his camera free, Polito's lens literally glides over the truly enormous sets at his disposal (undoubtedly a real train depot that was usually locked down in the really early morning). It actually takes a whole reel of breathtaking vignettes, before the movie proper really gets underway. At that point, young Douglas Fairbanks makes his surprising entrance at the head of a huge cast including Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Alan Hale and most especially David Landau, a charismatic and much-in-demand character actor who came from Broadway and made no less than 33 movies from 1931 through 1934. (He died, alas, in '35). This is such a must-see movie that I don't want to give away even a hint of the plot, but it does provide some great opportunities for all the name players. In fact, even many of the character actors like Charles Lane, George Chandler, Ethel Griffies, Theresa Harris and Dorothy Christie get their chance to shine. And of course, if there are any cops around (which there are), Robert Homans is sure to make an appearance.

gerrytwo Union Depot starts with an exterior crane shot that slowly zooms into the train station from above, with no noticeable break as camera goes through the wall into the lobby of the station. Alfred Green, the director of this and many other Warner Bros. movies in the 1930s, keeps things hopping as two homeless men, played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Guy Kibbee, come into some money accidentally. Joan Blondell, always a welcome addition to any movie, enters the picture as jobless young woman who meets Fairbanks while at the station, running away from a sex maniac played by George Rosener, usually a screenwriter. Someone figured he looked right for the part. Union Depot, with its cynical view of life and its casual approach to sex, stands up better than the synthetic movies made after the strict Production Code took effect in July, 1934. The stars, the off-beat story and Alfred Green's fluid direction make this dated movie fine entertainment.