Union Depot

Finders keepers. Amid the comings and goings at Union Depot, on-the-grift Chic and his pal Scrap Iron retrieve a dropped baggage-claim ticket. They redeem it for a violin case - and open it to find a fortune in cash. Now Chic can put on airs and impress the doll-faced, down-on-her-luck chorus girl he meets at the station. And maybe she can travel to her next show on his dime (and flee a deviant stalker, to boot). Meanwhile, detectives can close in on the pair for passing around a lot of counterfeit dough.

With top Talkie Era stars (Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Blondell) and come-hither pre-Code elan and innuendo, Union Depot is the place for "great fun, brimming with early-1930s flavor" (Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide).

A GRAND HOTEL derivation set in a major metropolitan train terminal, UNION DEPOT features most of the reliable Warner Bros. stock company. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. stars as a slick thief; Joan Blondell costars as a stranded chorus girl; Alan Hale Sr. is featured as a phony baron absconding with company funds; and Frank McHugh does his drunk act. Other arrivals and departures include Guy Kibbee, David Landau, and George Rosener (as a sexual deviate stalking Ms. Blondell!) The huge depot set built for this film may seem like an unnecessary expenditure, but the set would come in handy for future, less costly Warners endeavors. The British title for UNION DEPOT was Gentleman for a Day, reflecting the crooked Fairbanks' good-guy turnaround at the end of the film.