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Absolutely Fantastic

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

"Union Pacific" is an epic western released in 1939 the year many consider the movies greatest year. Consequently it never received the acclaim it deserved. It has all of the major elements one would expect to find in a major western: dashing clean-cut hero, feisty heroine, nasty villain, spectacular scenery, amazing special effects and of course those great old trains, miniature or not.As one of his final acts, President Abraham Lincoln authorizes the building of the Union Pacific railroad westward to meet at the California border with the Central Pacific Railroad. With Lincoln's death, ambitious banker Asa Barrows (Henry Kolker) sees an opportunity to cash in by delaying the completion of the Union Pacific. Barrows enlists the aid of gambler Sid Campeau (Brian Donlevy) and his partner Dick Allen (Robert Preston) to delay the construction.Under the leadership of Generals Dodge (Francis McDonald) and Casement (Stanley Ridges), the project begins. They hire ex-soldier Jeff Butler (Joel McCrea) as chief trouble shooter for the project. Two grizzled old trouble shooters, Fiesta (Akim Tamiroff) and Leach (Lynne Overman) are hired to assist him. When Jeff confronts Campeau, he discovers his old pal Dick Allen. Turns out Allen also knows the Irish Mollie Monahan (Barbara Stanwyck) with whom Jeff has also taken an interest.Campeau and Allen do their best to thwart the construction including a daring hold up of the construction crew's payroll. In order to protect Jeff from Allen and his two cronies (Harry Woods, Fuzzy Knight), Mollie agrees to marry Allen much to the dismay of Jeff. Jeff has suspected Allen of the payroll robbery but cannot prove it. When Allen is charged with the robbery, Jeff allows him to escape for old time's sake. But when the Indians attack the train carrying the principals they......................................................DeMille as usual employed a large cast of recognizable actors, many familiar to lovers of westerns. J.M. Kerrigan plays Mollie's father Monahan the engineer, Anthony Quinn a gambler, William Haade a foreman, Lane Chandler a conductor, Robert Barrat as Duke Ring a loud mouthed trouble maker, as well as, Regis Toomey, Lon Chaney Jr. (blink or you'll miss him), Richard Denning, Byron Foulger, Charlie Stevens, Chief Thunder Cloud and Iron Eyes Cody among others.DeMille stages not one but two realistic and spectacular train wrecks. And there is a well staged Indian attack resulting in one of them. ANd don't forget the scene at the end where the golden spike is driven to mark the meeting of the two railroads.An excellent western in every respect.

Still another great 1939 film is "Union Pacific." The film, which is rich in history, is about the coming of the railroad linking the east and west and those who would do anything to destroy the construction of this mighty link.Barbara Stanwyck puts on an authentic Irish accent as lassie Mollie Monahan, and she is Mollie to a tee. Her love interests include Joel McRea as the overseer to make sure that the railroad is constructed, and his friend, Robert Preston, who unfortunately takes to the wrong side on this one, when he joins forces with always bad Brian Donlevy, a stooge for a financier who will stop at nothing to prevent the completion of this project.The film has everything-history, lust, a great train wreck, Indian uprisings and greed as well as desire.

It's not a bad film but it's too long. Man, at 136 minutes this is tough to sit through although if you can make it to the halfway point, you are way ahead of the game because the slowest part is the first half.Barbara Stanwyck was still young, fresh-looking and spunky and I enjoyed her. Robert Preston seemed to be the most natural of the male leads. Joel McCrea seemed a little stiff in his delivery. Brian Donlevy was good as always.What detracted me from enjoying this movie was the dated special-effects. Every time somebody was on something that was moving - a horse, wagon carts, trains, etc - it really looked hokey. Obviously, they were in a studio with a screen behind them. It was so phony it made the film lose credibility. The classic movies that hold up better, generally speaking, are the ones that don't rely too much on realism, action-wise.

It doesn't suffer from any of his usual flaws. The pacing is perfect, the acting is not at all stilted, and the technical aspects don't dominate the story or the characters. The story centers around the building of the titular railroad. A banker hires a motley group of gamblers and whoremongers (led by Brian Donlevy) to slow down production and then invests in the Central Pacific. Joel McCrea plays a railroad cop, basically, who sees that Donlevy is trouble. He can't outright kick him out, because his army buddy and best friend (Robert Preston) is Donlevy's partner. To further complicate the relationship between McCrea and Preston, there is a girl caught between them (Barbara Stanwyck). It's a great story supported by fine performances all around. While the film runs for 2 hours and 19 minutes, it never seemed boring at all. There are several exciting setpieces, most notably an Indian attack. There are also a couple of great suspense sequences. I loved the scene where McCrea corners Preston and Stanwyck after the payroll has been stolen. It goes on for a long time but the suspense never breaks. Generally I don't think DeMille has skill enough to pull something like that off. My only real problem is that sometimes the good guys are as bad as the villains. McCrea has two sidekicks, played by Akim Tamiroff and Lynne Overman, who can't help but be referred to as henchmen. I mean, even the characters' names are sinister, Fiesta and Leach. Donlevy has a couple of henchmen as well (Anthony Quinn in an early role and Robert Barrat), and they aren't any scarier.