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.

LeonLouisRicci Snappy, Fluid, and Wide Open Pre-Coder with Doug Fairbanks Jr., Joan Blondell, a Bunch of WB Character Actors, and an On Screen Depression Era Train Station that Impresses. It is an Urban Landscape to Fill with a Cross-Section of the Melting Pot Coming and Going. All Skin-Colors, Languages, and Dress. Upper Crust and and the Crumbs.This is Quite the Entertaining Movie and the Camera Work and Sound are Outstanding for a 1931 Film. It Never Ceases to Amaze just How Much Plot can be Woven into an Hour Plus. This One is So Full of Colorful Vignettes and Vice that it Effortlessly Makes You Want to Pay Attention to it All.Above Average Pre-Code Delight and a Larger than Usual Slice of Cityscape Americana on the Move. Unfettered Inclusions...Prostitutes, Extramarital Sex, Prohibition Drinking, an Allusion to Pornography, and More. There is Also a Nod to WWI Vets, Still Much on the Mind of America and the Film also has its Villain with a German Accent.

blanche-2 Union Depot is a 1932 precode film starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Guy Kibbee, and Joan Blondell.Chick (Fairbanks) and Scrap Iron Scratch (Kibbee) are two hobos during the Depression, hungry and hanging around Union Depot to beg for money and look for opportunities to get money.The first opportunity comes in the form of a conductor's uniform hanging in the mens room, which Chick steals by sticking a pole through the mens room window. Then he gets a real windfall - a man (Frank McHugh) leaves his suitcase in the mens room. Chick chases him to return it, but the man is gone. Inside is everything Chick will need to look like the handsome man that he is: a suit, shaving cream, shaver. He emerges from the mens room looking great. He also has money that was in the suit pocket.He goes to a diner and orders soup to nuts and racks up a huge bill of $1.75. I can't believe the prices in those days. He sees a forlorn looking young woman in the station. It's Ruth (Joan Blondell) who needs $64 to get to Salt Lake City to join a show that she was in before she broke her ankle. And she'll do anything to get it. That's fine with Chick. He takes her to a private dining room and makes a pass. She tries, but she can't go through with it. She finally tells Chick her full story, that besides needing to get to the show, she's running from a creep that lived in her rooming house. Chick believes her and says he'll buy her ticket.Somewhere along the line, he meets up with Scratch, who has found a wallet with a pawn ticket. The pawn ticket is for a violin in a case. Chick takes it to the pawnbroker across the way. While the pawnbroker is taking care of another customer, Chick opens the violin and finds $13,000 -- the equivalent of nearly a quarter of a million dollars today. Frankly, I could use the $13,000 now, and it's over 80 years later.Chick hides the violin case and leaves Scratch in charge of it and takes some of the money with him. And there the fun begins.This is a fast-moving, entertaining story that leaves one with a tinge of sadness. I am a huge fan of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. I think he was a very underrated actor. He's marvelous here, as effective as a hobo as he is as a dapper gentleman. Both his comedy and dramatic work are marvelous. Joan Blondell is adorable -- so pretty and sweet, but with an edge that shows that the character has been through hard times.Precode has a more liberal view of sex. People have it, for one thing. And you don't have to be married. Fairbanks is fairly cavalier about it and angry when Blondell doesn't come across.Very good movie - if you see that it's on TCM, don't miss it. I would have liked a less downbeat ending, but hey, it was the Depression.

calvinnme ...why would Ruth Collins (Joan Blondell) take desperate measures - and in the case of women in 1932 that could mean only one thing - to get that 64 dollars? The setting is a train station - "Union Depot" - during the Depression. At the beginning the camera goes back and forth over travelers that ultimately do not have much to do with the story - immigrant families speaking in foreign languages, a mother walking along with her four children tied together like a caravan, a sailor trying to make it with a street wise girl and getting nowhere, a woman saying goodbye to her Pullman porter husband and when he is out of sight embracing her lover with the good news - he's gone for a week! Into this hustle and bustle walk two hungry vagrants - Scrap Iron Scratch (Guy Kibbee) and young Chick Miller (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Scratch has retained his sense of humor but you can tell he has given up on life giving him a break. Chick is a quick thinking good looking fellow that in better times could have gone up any corporate ladder, but this is the Depression and it's all about your next meal and survival for these two and many others.They, along with Ruth, have a one day adventure at the station that involves G-Men on the look-out for counterfeiters, the counterfeiters themselves, a violin-case stuffed with fake cash, and just for good measure, a villain in the classic sense - Dr. Bernardi that doesn't have anything to do with these other villains. He's a dirty old man with failing eyesight and a bad leg, yet he thinks he's up to physically overpowering a young healthy woman like Ruth? Despite Clint Eastwood's timeless true warning that a man's got to know his limitations, the villain still pursues her.There's plenty of action in a place that is dangerous for any kind of action - Union Depot's train yards as locomotives exit and enter at high speed, and there's that great Depression slice of life that Warner Brothers was so good at during the pre-code years. Also look out for Frank McHugh in a small but important role as a man who in his drunken state can't tell a member of the armed forces from an information desk manager and whose forgetfulness in leaving his bag behind in the men's washroom - complete with new suit and shaving kit - is a piece of good luck for Chick. Or maybe it's ultimately bad luck? Watch and find out which. It will definitely hold your interest.