Friday, July 5, 2013

Union Pacific (1939)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

DeMille strays from the Biblical epic, at least briefly, for this western saga of the building of the first transcontinental railroad. A rich banker hires thugs to delay a competing railroad with the hopes of making a killing on the stock market. The railroad hires ex-Union officer Joel McCrea to stop them. Barbara Stanwyck is an Irish tomboy who catches the eye of both McCrae and an old army buddy, working with the bad guys. Their romantic triangle drives the plot more than the building of the railroad. Things really get bogged down in a long Indian attack and train wreck that take up most of the second half. Despite the Oscar nod, the special effects are sub-par, depending too much on miniature models and frequent use of back projection. McCrae has never been a strong leading man, and this role does nothing to change my opinion. Stanwyck stands far above the rest of the cast with her sympathetic portrayal of the loyal, but mixed up, girl. John Ford's 1924 silent epic The Iron Horse is still the definitive film version of the story of the first transcontinental railroad.

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