Strangers On A Train (DVD)

...make you very wary of strangers from now on! The tension is fantastic right the way through, with some quite unsettling scenes, and lots of examples of Hitchcock's revolutionary visual style. I would definitely recommend it!
_____________________________________________

Strangers on a Train is available online from www.dvd.co.uk for £5.99 for the single disc edition, or £7.99 from www.play.com for the special 2 disc edition. ... more

I don't know what's going on with the picture on Ciao!

I'm not going to pretend I'm some big fan of Alfred Hitchcock - sure I've heard of his films, but I've only ever seen North by Northwest (which is also excellent), and the remake of Psycho (which isn't so good). So I'll just review this film on its own merits. I only heard of this a few months ago but it sounded really intriguing, so I decided to give it a watch during my half term holiday. And I was really impressed…

It was made in 1951, adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith, and it was nominated for an Oscar in 1952 for Best Black and White Photography. The Internet Movie Database puts it at number 92 in its top 250 films.

The story is one of the best I have heard in a long while: a mildly famous professional tennis player, Guy Haines (played by Farley Granger) happens to be sitting next to a man called Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) on the train. They get talking, and at first all seems nice and cosy. However, it soon turns out that Bruno has some sinister intentions, and wants to "swap murders" with Guy. If Bruno dispatches Guy's wife, who is getting in his way and preventing him from marrying his new girlfriend, then Guy is expected to murder Bruno's meddling father. Of course, Guy thinks Bruno is just getting carried away, but when Guy's wife is strangled to death at a fair ground, Guy discovers that this psychopath will not stop bothering him until he fulfils his side of the deal.

I'll admit that the plot may sound to some a bit far-fetched, but on hearing it for the first time I was completely engrossed. This film is undoubtedly a classic, and it's easy to see why. From the very first shots, you know this film is something special. It would seem that Alfred Hitchcock was a very visual director, in that he uses a lot of fantastic and strange camera work. The film opens with the camera watching the feet of the two men boarding the train. The camera follows them both separately, until they are both on the train and knock into each other under the table. Only then do you see their faces for the first time. The other "famous" bit is when Guy's wife is murdered, and it is shown in the reflection of her glasses, which have been knocked to the floor. I didn't think this worked quite so effectively, but it was nevertheless something unique and visually striking.

The acting from the two leads was faultless throughout, and Hitchcock himself makes his trademark cameo quite early on, so keep your eyes open! I must admit I'd never heard of either of them, but Robert Walker, playing Bruno, was brilliantly creepy and smarmy, and you could just feel him easing his way slowly into Guy's life until the two were inextricably intertwined. The dialogue between the two is fantastic, and you really get a sense that Guy is backed into a corner which he has no other way to escape from. The soundtrack helps to add to the atmosphere, as it has lots of creepy strings, and the fact it is filmed in black and white also creates a very moody, noir-ish movie.

Hitchcock keeps the tension building up and up with numerous clues, for example when Guy's girlfriend begins to put two and two together by spotting the tie with "Bruno" written on, and the significance of the "A to G" lighter. Bruno always seems to be lurking in the background somewhere, and this is done particularly effectively when he follows Guy to Washington and is standing alone dressed in black against the white steps of a building.

Then there are the numerous deliberate set-pieces where the tension builds to unbearable levels - Bruno drops the lighter down the sewers and is desperately trying to reach it with his fingers, whilst Guy is hurrying to finish the tennis match so that he can rush off and stop Bruno planting it at the scene of the crime. Shots of the two situations constantly switch, and it really feels like a race against time for both the characters.

The finale doesn't disappoint after all the build-up which has gone before it. It takes place on an out of control merry-go-round, which only adds to the excitement. I have to admit that some of the shots of the merry-go-round were obviously just regular images speeded up, which kind of spoiled it, but considering it was made so long ago, I can forgive it. I was also a bit surprised and disappointed when they got off the train. I don't know why but I was expecting all the action to take place on board the train, which I think would have made it really tense and claustrophobic.

Overall, this film is a deserved classic, with one of the best premises you will ever hear. Despite the story being quite ridiculous, you really feel like it could happen to you, and this film will probably make you very wary of strangers from now on! The tension is fantastic right the way through, with some quite unsettling scenes, and lots of examples of Hitchcock's revolutionary visual style. I would definitely recommend it!
___________________________________________

Strangers on a Train is available online from www.dvd.co.uk for £5.99 for the single disc edition, or £7.99 from www.play.com for the special 2 disc edition. These are both good value for such an old film, and considering how good it is!

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll
Running time: 101 minutes
Classification: PG (contains some violence and tension)
 

...less