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.

...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.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. stars in "Union Depot" a pre-code effort from Alfred E. Green that follows the myriad stories found roaming within the hustle and bustle at a train station. Fairbanks is a shrewd tramp who weasels his way into interesting situations, which include getting into the suit of a rich man. Once he cleans up (quite nicely), he crosses paths with the gorgeous Joan Blondell, who plays a chorus girl desperate to get to Salt Lake City where a new gig awaits her if she can arrive in time."Union Depot" is a very busy, fast paced film full of fun coincidences, and those highly improbable circumstances that make classic Hollywood fare so refreshing. It never quite becomes the "Grand Hotel" in a train station it desired to be, but it's a nice place to spend a little over an hour nonetheless.

UNION DEPOT is a must see for all fans of Pre-Code Hollywood movies! Its chief attractions are fluid camera movement, a fast moving plot involving hardboiled Warner Bros-type characters from the lower rungs of society, as well as plenty of sexual situations, humor, suspense and action. ***POSSIBLE SPOILER*** One may notice that after Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Alan Hale engage in a train yard fight - jumping off boxcars, crawling through gravel, rolling around over oily tracks, getting kicked and punched - they emerge inside the station a moment later looking perfectly intact! Not even a smear of grime on their cheeks or a disheveled lock of hair or a rip in the fabric of their garments! ***END OF POSSIBLE SPOILER***One can, of course, suspend disbelief like mad because the movie is so splendidly entertaining and colorfully cast. Joan Blondell has never been more charming or attractive, playing a "decent" girl who by economic necessity must mix with indecent people. And the ending is harsh and rather sad. What a refreshing piece of work!