Amazon.com: "The legend of Union Pacific is the drama of a nation, young, tough, prodigal and invincible, conquering with an iron highroad the endless reaches of the West." This stemwinder of a foreword strikes the pseudo-biblical/American Empire keynote for Cecil B. DeMille's "history" of building the transcontinent railroad. Only the bombast--and Arthur Rosson's second-unit direction--rises to the film's epic mission. The mustache-twirling villainy is right out of 19th-century melodrama, and the romantic triangle of Joel McCrea's railroad troubleshooter, Barbara Stanwyck's aggressively "Oirish" postmistress-on-wheels, and their black-sheep chum played by newcomer Robert Preston is a feeble distraction. Worse, the stars do their stuff on studio sets, in sterile isolation from the locomotives, Indians, and buffalo hovering slightly out of scale on process screens behind them. There's not one but two train wrecks (always a DeMille favorite); in every other department, John Ford had C.B. beat 15 years earlier with The Iron Horse. --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Union Pacific
Well, it must be a good movie, since I never forgot what I have seen when I was 11. This movie was one of the first we got to watch in Bavaria, after the war. I am a little older now, but would like to ... Read More
Rating: - This is the "Must Have" Classic for all true Railroad Buffs...
I had always thought I was a Kathryn Hepburn fan, but Barbara Stanwyck can sling a line or two also! Her Irish brogue is truly delightful. Joel McCrea does a fine job also, but is a bit wooden at times. ... Read More
Rating: - Classic DeMille Potboiler Epic
My favorite western of 1939, with apologies to Cooper, Wayne, Fonda and Power. Joel McCrea is serviceable as the hero, but Cooper or any of the others above would have made a much better romantic partner ... Read More
Rating: - An epic huge-scale western
I hate the way people look at a black and white classic film and automatically think that the movie has to be bad. People only see the poor special effects and the absense of color but never judge a book by it's ... Read More
Rating: - Carry Your Brains in Your Holster?...
This is artful entertainment; this is Cecil B. De Mille presenting an odd blend of celebration and deconstruction in his portrayal of the burgeoning American empire. Far-sighted statesmen and greedy corporate barons; ... Read More
- Union Pacific
- Carry Your Brains in Your Holster?...