Strangers on a Train (1951)

Directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock

Guy Haines (Farley Granger) is an amateur tennis champion travelling to his home-town to persuade his unfaithful wife (Laura Elliott) to divorce him. He wants to marry Anne Morton (Ruth Roman), the daughter of a wealthy senator, who will sponsor Guy’s planned career in politics. On the train home, Guy meets the odd Bruno Antony (Robert Walker), who, among other schemes, has evolved a ‘perfect murder’ plan. He and someone he has just met would ‘swap’ murders. As an example, Bruno suggests to Guy that Guy kill Bruno’s hated father, while Bruno will rid Guy of his troublesome wife. Guys dismisses Bruno as a tedious crackpot - until Bruno confronts Guy with evidence that he has fulfilled his half of ‘their’ plan.

I saw and reviewed Shadow of a Doubt in early September, and found that Hitchcock movie wanting in a few aspects, principally in the story. Eight years after that production, the same director came out with a much better thriller in Strangers on a Train. In this film, the writing - the story, in particular - is better, the actions of the characters, including the police investigators, are better shaped.

The initial meeting of Guy and Bruno is particularly well-handled. Guy is a fairly ordinary man in his attempts to humour the fan who pushes himself on Guy, and in an environment from which the latter cannot escape. But giving Bruno an inch just leads to him taking miles. Many viewers will have been in a similar situation - though without the results seen in Strangers on a Train.

Bruno’s character is sharply drawn. Even though we never know what exactly his psychological problem is, we can see almost from the start that this is a disturbed individual. Like mold that slowly spreads across a slice of bead, Bruno’s unnerving effects grow as the audience comes to know him. His dialogue is especially good, revealing a man who is apparently sympathetic - sycophantic at worst -  but is actually resentful and filled with hate. He speaks of admiring people who “do things”, yet insinuates that Guy, at least, achieved those things because of money or position. Even innate talent appears resented by Bruno.

The character is portrayed with a knock-out performance by Walker, in his penultimate role. He deserved at least to be nominated for an Oscar. Granger has the less showy role but also gives fine work. He provides Guy with a sense of growing desperation, even claustrophobia, as metaphoric walls start to close in on him. Patricia Hitchcock, the director’s daughter, plays Anne’s sister, and does a very good job. She certainly didn’t need her father’s name to make her own.

In smaller parts, Elliott makes Guy’s wife the sort audiences dislike, though she manages in her few scenes to give a bit of depth to her character. (As an aside, Elliott, under the name Kasey Rogers, had a recurring role on the tv series Bewitched, as did Marion Lorne, who plays Bruno’s pampering and protective mother.)

Hitchcock’s direction seems more lively in Strangers on a Train than in Shadow of a Doubt, though the latter’s setting did require a gentler approach. Bruno’s psychopathy stands out more than did Charles Oakley’s, which also gives greater scope for direction. The climax, featuring an out-of-control carousel at a fair-ground, is very exciting, and a worthy ending to an engrossing film.

Strangers on a Train was not Hitchcock’s first film of the 1950s, but it helped usher in what may have been the best decade of the director’s career, and stands alone as one of his most entertaining creations.