DVD Review: Holden and Olson reteamed for an overlooked film noir

There were noir films before and during World War II, but the genre didn’t really come into its own until 1945. Smack dab in the middle of that first (and arguably best) decade is 1950, whose roster of greats included “The Asphalt Jungle,” “In a Lonely Place,” “Caged” and “Gun Crazy.” With such company it’s easy to see why a solid, second-tier entry like “Union Station” would fall between the cracks.

William Holden was just coming off the same year’s classic “Sunset Boulevard” — for which he was to get an Oscar nomination — and Paramount wanted to reunite him with costar Nancy Olson (also to be Oscar-nominated). The result was “Union Station.”

Olson plays a young woman who, while on a train, discovers that her wealthy employer’s blind daughter has been kidnapped by a ruthless thug (Lyle Bettger). She informs the head of the “Station Police Headquarters” (Holden) who brings in the city police.

The titular railway terminal is and isn’t our Union Station. That is, the film takes place in Chicago, but the terminal scenes were shot in Los Angeles’ unmistakable Union Station. The place name in the title may be the source of the script’s greatest problem — the buildup of the suspense isn’t very linear because the action has to repeatedly return to that same locale.

The director was Rudolph Mate, following up on his best movie, “D.O.A.” (also 1950). Mate’s directorial resume is spotty, but, as a cinematographer, he had worked with Hitchcock, Lubitsch, William Wyler and Carl Theodor Dreyer (for whom he shot the luminous “Passion of Joan of Arc,” one of the most gorgeous products from the final years of silent cinema). His visual sense is frequently apparent in “Union Station,” particularly when the action moves underground.

Union Station (Olive Films, Blu-ray, $29.95; DVD, $24.95)

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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).