Strangers on a Train (1951)
Country: US
Technical: bw 101m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman
Synopsis:
A tennis champion meets a charming rogue on a train who, he thinks, jokes about them exchanging murder victims to remove the motive and thus avoid suspicion. But the other man is a psychopath and deadly serious.
Review:
An idea later re-used in Single White Female (qv.) (and indeed less successfully by the master himself in Frenzy) is ideal material for Hitch, who made a dramatic comeback with this film after some 'interesting' experiments. There are a number of sequences in his best style, such as the opening following the two pairs of feet up to their collision on the train, the murder reflected by a pair of spectacles, and business involving an incriminating cigarette lighter. The transference of guilt theme makes a return (if it ever went away), as does the homosexual subtext from Rope, also present in Highsmith's Ripley novels. The Warners production looks great, as does Robert Burks' cinematography, and Walker is superb as another in a line of villains with peculiar mothers. On the other hand, the tennis match against the clock and the climactic confrontation aboard a carousel are curious and disappointing choices.
Country: US
Technical: bw 101m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman
Synopsis:
A tennis champion meets a charming rogue on a train who, he thinks, jokes about them exchanging murder victims to remove the motive and thus avoid suspicion. But the other man is a psychopath and deadly serious.
Review:
An idea later re-used in Single White Female (qv.) (and indeed less successfully by the master himself in Frenzy) is ideal material for Hitch, who made a dramatic comeback with this film after some 'interesting' experiments. There are a number of sequences in his best style, such as the opening following the two pairs of feet up to their collision on the train, the murder reflected by a pair of spectacles, and business involving an incriminating cigarette lighter. The transference of guilt theme makes a return (if it ever went away), as does the homosexual subtext from Rope, also present in Highsmith's Ripley novels. The Warners production looks great, as does Robert Burks' cinematography, and Walker is superb as another in a line of villains with peculiar mothers. On the other hand, the tennis match against the clock and the climactic confrontation aboard a carousel are curious and disappointing choices.
Country: US
Technical: bw 101m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman
Synopsis:
A tennis champion meets a charming rogue on a train who, he thinks, jokes about them exchanging murder victims to remove the motive and thus avoid suspicion. But the other man is a psychopath and deadly serious.
Review:
An idea later re-used in Single White Female (qv.) (and indeed less successfully by the master himself in Frenzy) is ideal material for Hitch, who made a dramatic comeback with this film after some 'interesting' experiments. There are a number of sequences in his best style, such as the opening following the two pairs of feet up to their collision on the train, the murder reflected by a pair of spectacles, and business involving an incriminating cigarette lighter. The transference of guilt theme makes a return (if it ever went away), as does the homosexual subtext from Rope, also present in Highsmith's Ripley novels. The Warners production looks great, as does Robert Burks' cinematography, and Walker is superb as another in a line of villains with peculiar mothers. On the other hand, the tennis match against the clock and the climactic confrontation aboard a carousel are curious and disappointing choices.