Strangers on a Train

Movie Review: Strangers on a Train

Year of Release: 1951
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker

Plot: A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder ... a theory that he plans to implement (IMDb).

Based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith, an immensely successful writer of psychological thrillers, perhaps best known for "The Talented Mr. Ripley", the original narrative explored two psychological themes which came to have a huge influence on Hitchcock’s later movies: duality and transference. Duality is the idea that everything in nature has its mirror opposite lying beside it, illustrated by the juxtaposition of good and evil in the human psyche. Transference is the notion that one human being can acquire some elements of the persona of another, or live out the experiences of another, through personal contact. Strangers on a Train is the first of the truly great suspense thrillers from Hitchcock, the first movie in which all of the elements of what we now know as the classic American Hitchcock movie fit perfectly into place, with the precision and artistry of an ornate Swiss clock. Many regard it as one of the director’s finest achievements and it certainly rates as one of his most entertaining movies, with some deliciously subversive comedy skilfully woven into a dark and sinister web of suspenseful intrigue. Strangers on a Train is movie which clearly inspired Hitchcock and got his creative juices flowing at full throttle. This is at once apparent in the movie’s thrilling set-piece sequences: the murder of Miriam, seen through one lens of a pair of spectacles; the intercutting of the tennis match with Bruno’s desperate attempt to recover Guy’s lighter from a street drain; and the spectacular dual-to-the-death on the fairground merry-go-round. The staging of these sequences and the imaginative way in which they are shot suggest a level of technical and artistic brilliance that is virtually unsurpassed in a mainstream thriller. The other great thing about this movie is the calibre of the performances. Particularly memorable is Robert Walker who is magnificent as the utterly charming yet clearly unhinged psychopath Bruno Anthony. Walker dominates the movie and makes a sympathetic villain who is far more engaging than Farley Granger’s bland and inconsequential Guy Haines. Walker’s fautless, multi-layered performance in this movie shows what an immense talent Hollywood lost through his premature death. (JT)

My judgement: **** out of 4 stars