Strangers On A Train (DVD)

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Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" from 1951 may not be among the director's most well-known films, but it is certainly a good representative of everything that was best about the director. It contains all the typical Hitchcock ingredients--the innocent man, the wrong man, the wry humor, the moral ambiguity of good and bad in each of us, and, most important, the suspense.

Another good reason for watching the film is that it's a superb example of Hitchcock at his darkest, noir-mystery best. Not that most of the master director's films aren't dark, but this one stands out. In fact, it came at a time when he probably most needed it. Hitchcock had been enormously popular in England in the 1930s, and then came to Hollywood in 1940 for the Academy Award-winning "Rebecca." For next few years he was quite successful on a worldwide front, but by the late forties, things like "The Paradine Case," "Rope," and "Under Capricorn" had people wondering if he hadn't lost his touch. "Strangers on a Train" turned that around, and he went on to enjoy a period of about a dozen years where he could do no wrong: "Rear Window," "Vertigo," "North by Northwest," "Psycho," "The Birds."

In "Strangers on a Train" we not only see some of Hitchcock's typical obsessions, we see one of the best pieces of acting in any of Hitch's film. Robert Walker co-stars as a fellow named Bruno Anthony, a creepy but utterly charming liar and psychopathic killer. If you've seen or read any of the stories by Patricia Highsmith, whose novel was here adapted by celebrated crime writer Raymond Chandler (with the help of Czenzi Ormonde and an uncredited Ben Hecht and Whitfield Cook), you'll recognize the Bruno character type. He's Tom Ripley from "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Ripley's Game," and "Ripley Under Ground." Bruno is totally amoral, unscrupulous, and treacherous, yet he doesn't seem to recognize it or doesn't care. He is able to talk his way into or out of any situation, which is what he does so well in "Strangers."

Bruno, you see, is a rich, pampered, momma's boy who hates his father. He despises him so much he wants him dead. So he concocts a scheme for killing the old man. Bruno connives to meet another fellow, a stranger, on a train and strike up a conversation with him. The other fellow is Guy Haines (Farley Granger), an amateur tennis star who is in love with the daughter, Anne (Ruth Roman), of a U.S. Senator, but who is himself married to an unfaithful wife, Miriam (Laura Elliott), pregnant by another man. During their supposed casual conversation, prearranged by Bruno, of course, Bruno announces that "you should do everything before you die." He then goes on to suggest, just hypothetically, that "everybody is a potential murderer." Guy just takes it all in, half amused by the man's notions.

Then, Bruno reveals his idea. Bruno knows from the newspapers that Guy is involved with a Senator's daughter and infers that Guy would like his wife out of the way so he can marry the other girl. What if each of the two strangers performed a murder for the other person? Since they are completely unknown to one another, nobody could possibly see a motive for either murder, and the persons who wanted the murders committed could arrange to have a perfect alibi at the time of the crime. "They swap murders," as Bruno says, each one murdering a total stranger. "You do my murder, and I do yours."

Ingenious. But will Guy go for it? That's the question Hitchcock asks throughout most of the film, and he keeps us guessing to the end. And how evil is Bruno? He pops a kid's balloon for kicks. Everything becomes sinister in the story, even something so outwardly innocent as an amusement park and, ironically, a Tunnel of Love. As the plot develops, Bruno pesters Guy continuously, pushing him further and further into doing the dirty deed, culminating in murder itself. Meanwhile, Guy's girlfriend begins to suspect that something is up, and at about the same time, so do the police.

In "Strangers on a Train" we do not find an abundance of physical action and certainly not a lot of blood. Yet Hitchcock has a singular knack for keeping the viewer's eyes glued to the screen every minute. It is only a tennis game near the end of the movie that seems to go on too long, but it's immediately made up for by a climactic ride on a merry-go-round. Most of the film is a journey through pure Hitchcockian irony and suspense, and well worth the trip.