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Directed by Rudolph Maté
USA 1950

 

The 2025 Kino Blu-ray of Union Station is reviewed / compared HERE

 

Returning to the city from her wealthy employer residence, Joyce Willecombe (Nancy Olson), spots two armed men on the train. She reports them to the conductor who radios in to the Station’s police. Once at Union station she points out the men to Lt. William Calhoun (William Holden), head of the station’s police squad and they find out that the gunmen are members of a gang who have kidnapped her employer’s blind daughter and are seeking a $100,000 ransom. The Chicago police headed by inspector Donnelly (Barry Fitzgerald), and the FBI are both called in. The action in this classic Film Noir culminates in a chase through the station’s underground tunnels. Directed by Rudolph Maté (D.O.A.).

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 4th, 1950

Reviews                More Reviews                     DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Olive Films - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

 Box Cover

Coming out individually December 2014:
Distribution Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC Olive Films - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:21:06  1:20:56.852 
Video 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6.2 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s 		 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 13,526,669,134 bytes

Feature: 13,343,969,280 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 20.00 Mbps

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:

Bitrate: Blu-ray

Audio English (Dolby Digital 1.0)  DTS-HD Master Audio English 884 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 884 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit)
Subtitles None None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Olive Films

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1

Edition Details:

• none

DVD Release Date: July 27th, 2010
Keep Case
Chapters: 6

Release Information:
Studio: Olive Films

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1

1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 13,526,669,134 bytes

Feature: 13,343,969,280 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 20.00 Mbps

Edition Details:

• none

DVD Release Date: November 13th, 2012
Thick Blu-ray Case  inside cardboard case
Chapters: 8

 

Comments:

The 2025 Kino Blu-ray of Union Station is reviewed / compared HERE

 

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Olive Films - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - November 12': Olive Films have created a Film Noir Boxset offering Blu-ray versions of their previously released DVDs of Rope of Sand, Appointment With Danger, Union Station and Dark City. We will duplicate our comments as they are generally the same for all four 1080P releases.

The improvement in the HD video is evident in the screen captures - it is noticeable by the comparisons - if not always overwhelming in superiority. Technically these are on the modest side with a respectable 20 Mbps bitrate. There has been no further restoration or digital tinkering from the SD - but grain is more prevalent and contrast certainly improves showing more detail in the frame. Typical of a straight Blu-ray transfer - the damage marks - in this case only speckles - become slightly more visible in hi-def. These all look quite good in my opinion - better than I anticipated. Details tighten, visuals brighten, and artifacts morph into film-grain. It was a pleasure to revisit these films with the improved resolution. It felt much closer to seeing them as they were originally - in the theatre.

Audio is now lossless in mono, there are no subtitles and no extras. Noir Fans should be pleased to own this Blu-ray Boxset - especially if they don't own the previous DVDs.

***

ON THE DVD: Summer 2010 has been an exceptional time for Noir on 'pressed' DVD. Aside from the plentiful Warner Archive we've gone through a long drought of consistent and important Noir titles being available. Many essentials from the 'dark cinema' style have been recently released including VCI's New York Confidential followed by the 5 film Sony The Film Noir Collection: Volume 2 being released the week prior to Film Noir Classics Collection 5 .

It's not over! - now Olive films (through access to Paramount) offer this; William Dieterle's Dark City, also Lewis Allen's Appointment With Danger and Rudolph Mate's Union Station.  Noir devotees' diligent patience has been amply rewarded.

There are pluses and minuses to these new Olive Films Noir DVDs. Firstly, on the VERY positive - they look very strong with high bitrates on dual-layered discs! The image quality is relatively clean (a few speckles - see frame specific damage capture - last frame grab below) - contrast is better than I anticipated and there is even some grain peeking through. Audio is original mono (something Criterion seem the only production company adhering to) - so basically the A/V transfer is excellent.

On the negative these are totally bare-bones offerings with no supplements at all - not even a trailer. There are also no subtitles offered. In an ideal world we'd have some Muller et all commentaries etc. but this seems to be a sign of the times (see the Film Noir Classics Collection 5). In all honesty I am thankful to see these films in the first place - so I won't be complaining too vociferously. I suppose the lack of extra material is a result of profit vs. cost - and I'd rather have the films available in bare-bones editions... than not at all.

While my least favorite of the three (Dark City, Appointment With Danger and, this, Union Station ) it is still on our Noir list as 'quintessential' and with good reason. This has a surprising tough spirit adding to it's gritty, but noble, charm. Again - we strongly recommend to fans of vintage cinema and followers of Film Noir. 

Gary W. Tooze
Recommend:

DVDBeaver recommends all 7 Noir Collections from Warner and Sony (43 films and counting!):

 


Menus

1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT
 

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Screen Captures

 

1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 
1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 
1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 
1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 
Damage
 
1) Olive Film - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Olive Film - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

More Blu-ray captures

 Box Cover

Coming out individually December 2014:
Distribution Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC Olive Films - Region 'A' - Blu-ray



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