Strangers on a Train (1951)
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Synopsis: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, quickly became one of Alfred Hitchcock's most successful thrillers and remains one of his most popular films. En route from Washington, D.C., champion tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets pushy playboy Bruno Anthony... STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, quickly became one of Alfred Hitchcock's most successful thrillers and remains one of his most popular films. En route from Washington, D.C., champion tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets pushy playboy Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker). What begins as a chance encounter turns into a series of morbid confrontations, as Bruno manipulates his way into Guy's life. Bruno is eager to kill his father and knows Guy wants to marry a senator's daughter (Ruth Roman) but cannot get a divorce from his wife, Miriam (Laura Elliot). So Bruno suggests the men swap murders, which would leave no traceable clues or possible motives. Though Guy refuses, it will not be so easy to rid himself of the psychopathic Bruno. The film is tightly paced and disturbing from beginning to end, an effect heightened by Hitchcock's inventive camera work, including a terrifying sequence shot through a pair of eyeglasses that have been knocked to the ground. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock
DVD Info
Release:
Sep 7, 2004
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- 2-Disc Set
- Full Frame - 1.33
Additional release Material:
- Documentaries - 1. A HITCHCOCK CLASSIC
- 2. THE VICTIM'S P.O.V.
- 3. STRANGERS ON A TRAIN by M. Night Shymalan
- 4. THE HITCHCOCK'S ON HITCH
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
the work most necessary for a deeper appreciation of Hitchcock's late masterpieces.
Hitchcock's handling of the suspense is deadly effective and a quality cast breathe life into some delicious dialogue.
Perhaps Strangers on a Train still hasn't yielded all its secrets.
Hitchcock erects a web of guilt around Granger, who 'agreed' to his wife's murder, a murder that suits him very well, and structures his film around a series of set pieces, ending with a paroxysm of violence on a circus carousel.
Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" is about weakness crisscrossing with evil, with evil pushing hard for the upper hand. Nobody comes away unscathed.
worthy vehicle that displays Hitchcock's narrative ability and explores some of his favorite themes
Most of the film is a journey through pure Hitchcockian irony and suspense, and well worth the trip.
Patricia Highsmith's malicious writing seems perfectly suited to Alfred Hitchcock.
Walker's creepy performance ranks among the best found in any Hitchcock film.
To ignore the subtext during the runaway carousel climax is to be absolutely blind.
Two men, a problem, and a crime is an old theme, but the list of works that exploit it perfectly is a short one. Strangers on a Train belongs on it.
Hitchcock was above all the master of great visual set pieces, and there are several famous sequences in Strangers on a Train.
As sleek, taut and breezy an entertainment as Hitchcock ever made, and a nice hinge moment, almost exactly in the middle of the black-and-white and color phases of his American career.
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