| Union Pacific | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical film poster | |
| Directed by | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Written by | Walter DeLeon Jack Cunningham C. Gardner Sullivan |
| Based on | Trouble Shooter (1936 novel) byErnest Haycox |
| Produced by | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Starring | Barbara Stanwyck Joel McCrea Akim Tamiroff Robert Preston Lynne Overman Brian Donlevy |
| Cinematography | Victor Milner |
| Edited by | Anne Bauchens |
| Music by | Sigmund Krumgold John Leipold Gerard Carbonara (uncredited) Leo Shuken (uncredited) Victor Young (uncredited) |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 135 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Union Pacific is a 1939 AmericanWesterndrama directed byCecil B. DeMille and starringBarbara Stanwyck,Joel McCrea andRobert Preston. Based on the 1936 novelTrouble Shooter byWestern fiction authorErnest Haycox, the film is about the building of theUnion Pacific Railroad across theAmerican West. Haycox based his novel upon the experiences ofcivil engineerCharles H. Sharman, who worked on the railroad from its start inOmaha, Nebraska in 1866 until thegolden spike ceremony on May 10, 1869[1] to commemorate the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads atPromontory Summit,Utah Territory.[1] The film recreates the event using the same 1869golden spike, on loan fromStanford University.
The 1862Pacific Railroad Act signed by President Abraham Lincoln authorizes pushing theUnion Pacific Railroad westward across the wilderness toward California. Asa Barrows has a stake in theCentral Pacific Railroad and hopes to profit from delaying the completion of the Union Pacific. Gambler Sid Campbeau and his partner Dick Allen help Barrows sabotage the endeavor.
Jeff Butler is hired to troubleshoot construction. He fought in the war with Allen and is happy to reunite with him. Both men have their eye on Mollie Monahan, the daughter of a railroad engineer.
Barrows agrees to finance the payroll of the Union Pacific but instructs Campbeau to hijack the money and return most of it to him. Butler interrupts the heist with his men. Allen rides off with the payroll and hides it at Mollie's. Butler finds Allen at Mollie's and looks for the payroll. Allen threatens to kill him.
Mollie agrees to marry Allen only if he will return the payroll. They pretend they found it on the tracks. Butler still has to find the payroll thieves, who will be hanged when they are caught.
Allen sneaks onto Mollie's car on the train as it moves down the line. The train is ambushed by Native Americans who collapse a water tower onto the tracks and destroy the locomotive. As they ransack the train, Mollie and Allen are trapped. Butler makes his way to their car and the trio telegraphs for help. When they run out of ammunition, Butler prepares to kill Mollie to prevent her capture. The cavalry arrives on another train. Butler allows Allen to escape because of their friendship.
Railroad construction halts as winter weather delays plans to build a mountain tunnel. A temporary track is built around the mountain. The first track collapses, killing Mollie's father. The second track holds and construction continues.
The completion of the railroad is celebrated by driving agolden spike to join the two lines that now span the continent. Allen is at the ceremony and reunites with Mollie. Campbeau is also there, waiting to kill Butler. Allen intervenes. Campbeau kills Allen before he is shot by Butler's friends.
Union Pacific is a celebration of American industry.[2] DeMille recognized that the time was right for "chauvinistic fairy tales". The film is essentially a remake ofJohn Ford'sThe Iron Horse.[3]: 339, 348f DeMille even copies several of Ford's shots, especially during the attack on the supply train.[4]: 143
A prostate issue caused DeMille's absence from the shoot for several weeks during the location shooting. Studio records indicate that DeMille collapsed from the strain of directing three units simultaneously.[5][6] While DeMille was incapacitated, the film was directed byArthur Rosson andJames Hogan. When DeMille returned, he directed from a stretcher.[7]
Iron Eyes Cody was a trainer for the production. He taught Akim Tamiroff how to use hisbullwhip and the extras how to shoot bows and arrows.[8]: 174
Parts of the film were shot inIron Springs, Utah.[9]
Thegolden spike used at the ceremony to mark the end of the construction was the same spike used in the May 10, 1869 event, on loan fromStanford University.[7]
One of the noteworthy scenes in the film depicts Indians attacking the train carrying Jeff Butler, Dick Allen, and Mollie Monahan, inspired bya real-life incident near Plum Creek, Nebraska, during which the Indians fell a nearby water tower on to the locomotive, derailing the train, with the three main characters hiding within the wreckage as the Indians proceed to loot the train. For this scene, Paramount hired 100Navajo Indian extras and rented manypinto horses. Cowboys were hired to round up the horses as they would scatter and sometimes stampede because of the noise and confusion of the production. For the wrecked train, theVirginia and Truckee Reno locomotive was to be laid on its side against an embankment. Despite precautionary measures, the locomotive suffered damage to its cab, running board, boiler jacketing, and pipework during the process of placing it on its side, and further as it was re-railed after filming concluded. Paramount paid nearly $5000 to repair the damage incurred while filming the scene.[10]
To operate the number of trains required by the production, Paramount secured a regulation railroad operating license from theInterstate Commerce Commission.
The film's world premiere took place simultaneously at three different theaters (the Omaha, Orpheum and Paramount) inOmaha, Nebraska, on April 28, 1939, just three weeks before the 70th anniversary of the driving of thegolden spike that joined the rails of the Union Pacific and theCentral Pacific Railroads atPromontory Summit,Utah Territory on May 10, 1869. The premiere was the centerpiece of a four-day event that drew 250,000 people to the city, temporarily doubling its population and requiring theNational Guard to help maintain order.
A special train transported DeMille, Stanwyck and McCrea fromHollywood to Omaha. The trip took three days and made stops along the way, drawing large crowds.[7] PresidentFranklin Roosevelt inaugurated the overall celebration by pressing atelegraph key at theWhite House that opened the civic auditorium. An advertisement stated that the premiere, which involved parades, radio broadcasts and a banquet, was the largest in motion-picture history. An antique train continued on a 15-day coast-to-coast promotional tour, stopping at 30 cities around the country.
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Celebrations also occurred on the other side of theMissouri River inCouncil Bluffs, Iowa. In commemoration of both the film's release and the 70th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, a 59 foot tall Golden Spike Monument at milepost 0.0 of the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad was constructed.[11] The monument was completed on April 26, 1939, and remains standing today.
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Union Pacific was so successful that Paramount gave DeMillecarte blanche for his future productions.[7]
Union Pacific was released two months afterJohn Ford'sStagecoach in 1939. The two films helped theWestern genre mature beyondLone Ranger serials andsinging cowboyB movies.[12]
The film was scheduled for the first-ever theCannes Film Festival in 1939. Theinvasion of Poland canceled the festival. Atthe 2002 festival,Union Pacific was shown alongside other films on the original lineup:Goodbye, Mr. Chips,La Piste du Nord,Lenin in 1918,The Four Feathers,The Wizard of Oz, andBoefje. A special jury awarded it thePalme d'Or.[13]
The film was nominated for anAcademy Award forBest Special Effects (Farciot Edouart,Gordon Jennings andLoren L. Ryder) at the12th Academy Awards.[14]
Union Pacific, along withThe Sign of the Cross,Four Frightened People,Cleopatra andThe Crusades, was released onDVD in 2006 by Universal Studios as part of the Cecil B. DeMille Collection. It was later released separately,[15] as well as on DVD in France and Germany. In 2017, it was released onBlu-ray in Germany byKoch Media with a high-definition transfer of the 107-minute dubbed and edited 1939 German theatrical version.
