When he reaches his destination, Guy bids goodbye to Bruno, thinking nothing more of the affable but rather curious young man's homicidal theories. The novel has been adapted multiple times, most famously by Alfred Hitchcock in his 1951 film. frequently use a buried subtext of unstated gay attraction -- as in "The "Hitchcock told me that this scene was the most personally frightening moment for him in any of his films", writes biographer Charlotte Chandler. "Vertigo," "Notorious," "Psycho" and perhaps "[55], Although its first rumblings came in 1947 with the trial and conviction of the "Hollywood Ten," the so-called Red Scare was gathering steam in 1950, with the espionage-related arrests of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and the trial of Alger Hiss. The premise is fascinating because it was far more intricate than I had been led to believe. Ebert wrote: Hitchcock was a classical technician in terms of controlling his visuals, and his use of screen space underlined the tension in ways the audience isn't always aware of. Bruno orders with gusto and with an interest in what he is going to eat lamb chops, French fries, and chocolate ice cream. the references to his private life, but inexplicably doesn't break off the [17] Although Ormonde was without a formal screen credit, she did have two things in her favor: her recently published collection of short stories, Laughter From Downstairs, was attracting good notices from critics, and she was "a fair-haired beauty with long shimmering hair. # travel # wine # glass of wine # modern love # train travel. [7] The director found her "bristling" and "lacking in sex appeal" and said that she had been "foisted upon him. Here you will find unforgettable moments, scenes and lines from all your favorite films. temporarily dominant. there's the famous sequence involving a runaway merry-go-round, on which Guy On a train, wealthy smooth-talking psychopath Bruno Antony recognizes Haines and reveals his idea for a murder scheme: two strangers meet and "swap murders" Bruno suggests he kill Miriam and Guy kill Bruno's hated father. "[5], The two characters, Guy and Bruno, can be viewed as doppelgngers. [28] Anne reaches for the big phone, but actually answers a regular one: "I did that on one take", Hitchcock explained, "by moving in on Anne so that the big phone went out of the frame as she reached for it. "[I]n one of the most unexpected, most aesthetically justified moments in film,"[29] the slow, almost graceful, murder is shown as a reflection in the victim's eyeglasses, which have been jarred loose from her head and dropped to the ground. an intriguing note from a user of the Internet Movie Database, claiming to have Haines, a famous tennis player, is recognized on a train by Bruno Anthony, The camera was on one side of the reflector, Elliott was on the other, and Hitchcock directed Elliott to turn her back to the reflector and "float backwards, all the way to the floor like you were doing the limbo. I love Hitchcock but hadn't ever watched this one until the other day, and I was pleasantly surprised in some ways but mostly very disappointed. These events were the background to their work, while Hitchcock, Cook, Ormonde and Keon were preparing the script for Strangers, and film scholar Robert L. Carringer has written of a political subtext to the film. Fast, exciting, and woven with wicked style, this is one of Hitchcock's most efficient and ruthlessly delicious thrillers. Alfred Hitchcock loved trains. Next, Hitchcock tried to hire Ben Hecht, but learned he was unavailable. Guy, on the other hand, shows little interest in eating the lunch, apparently having given it no advance thought, in contrast to Bruno, and he merely orders what seems his routine choice, a hamburger and coffee. is crucial. [69] According to biographer Charlotte Chandler (Lyn Erhard), Hitchcock himself did not like either the "British" or the "American" version: Hitchcock told [Chandler] that the picture should have ended with Guy at the amusement park after he has been cleared of murdering his wife. This ending, however, was not acceptable to Warner Bros.[28], In 1997, Warner released the film onto DVD as a double sided disc, with the "British" version on one side, and the "Hollywood" version on the reverse. movie is usually ranked among Hitchcock's best (I would put it below only Disc1 contains the movie in a good looking & sounding print with optional subtitles + French & Italian language versions and has a very good,entertaining commentary with various people talking about the film, book and much else, with the highlight for 'Hitchophiles' being interview segments of director & Hitchcock biographer Peter Bogdanovich questioning the man himself. inspiration of a very large dog to distract the audience from what he would After Guy arrives, he and Bruno fight on the park's carousel. The two men are as different as can be but both have the saem problem. "[13], Even before sewing up the rights for the novel, Hitchcock's mind was whirling with ideas about how to adapt it for the screen. a divorce from his cheating wife, Miriam (Kasey Rogers), in order to marry Anne This includes lots of great home movies; Alfred Hitchcock's Historical Meeting (SD; 1:08) is a weird little snippet without sound that shows Hitch interacting with actors made up as historical characters. [44] Of greater interest to Warner was the box office take, and the "receipts soon told the true story: Strangers on a Train was a success, and Hitchcock was pronounced at the top of his form as master of the dark, melodramatic suspense thriller. Let me remind you that even the most unworthy of us has a right to life and the pursuit of happiness. [6] In 2012, The Guardian praised the film writing "Hitchcock's study of the guilt that taints the human condition is just one cinematic masterstroke after another". Her suspicions aroused, Anne confronts Guy, who tells her the truth about Bruno's scheme. Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appearance occurs 11 minutes into the film. ${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}. only the whites of his eyes showing. producer (uncredited) Music by Dimitri Tiomkin . A football match is always ninety minutes, stretched to thirty minutes extra and a possible penalty shoot-out at most. [19] Hitchcock preferred the writing credit of Whitfield Cook and Czenzi Ormonde, but Warner Bros. wanted the cachet of the Chandler name and insisted it stay on. Once Bruno Antony acts on 'removing' Guy's wife, the movie ytakes off. She's behind Miriam in the early In a scene where Guy goes Theatrical Trailer (SD; 2:34). "[14] But Chandler was a notoriously difficult collaborator and the two men could not have had more different meeting styles: Hitchcock enjoyed long, rambling off-topic meetings where often the film would not even be mentioned for hours, while Chandler was strictly business and wanted to get out and get writing. In the casting of Anne Morton, Jack L. Warner got what he wanted when he assigned Ruth Roman to the project, over Hitchcock's objections. "[44], The film includes a number of puns and visual metaphors that demonstrate a running motif of crisscross, double-crossing, and crossing one's double. To the man committed to a career in politics, Bruno represents a tempting overthrow of all responsibility. Guy wants [14] Talks with Dashiell Hammett got further,[12] but here too communications ultimately broke down, and Hammett never took the assignment. "[37] Bruno, who tells Guy on the train that he admires people "who do things", gets a more vigorous musical treatment from Tiomkin: "Harmonic complexity defines the motifs associated with Bruno: rumbling bass, shocking clusters, and glassy string harmonics. It was not enough for Hitchcock to construct merely a world of doubles even contrasting doubles in a strict polar-opposite structure; for Hitchcock, the good-and-evil, darkness-and-light poles "didn't have to be mutually exclusive. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 131 p 31 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551, Warner Bros. press release #HO9-1251, November 30, 1950, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, introducing citations to additional sources, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Influence on Carol Burnett's Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, "Armchair Audience: The Moving Toyshop (1946)", "The Screen In Review; 'Strangers on a Train,' Another Hitchcock Venture, Arrives at the Warner Theatre", "My Favourite Hitchcock: Strangers on a Train", "Two Men Inspired By 'Throw Momma from the Train' Fail To Get Away With Murder", "David Fincher, 'Strangers on a Train,' and the Tricky Business of Remaking Hitchcock", German Concentration Camps Factual Survey, Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Strangers_on_a_Train_(film)&oldid=1134435612, Films based on works by Patricia Highsmith, Films with screenplays by Raymond Chandler, United States National Film Registry films, Articles needing additional references from June 2022, All articles needing additional references, Articles lacking reliable references from June 2022, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 17:53. No Highsmith cameo One of my top 50 movies, never seen on a big screen. Strangers on a Train ( 1951) 100-101 mins | Drama | 30 June 1951 Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker [ More ] Director: Alfred Hitchcock Writers: Raymond Chandler, Czenzi Ormonde, Whitfield Cook Producer: Alfred Hitchcock Cinematographer: Robert Burks Editor: William Ziegler Production Designer: Edward S. Haworth Production Company: in a public fight with her earlier on the day of her death, and even told his fiance reflected events in his private life; he had a nervous breakdown shortly after Highsmith Chandler completed a first draft, then wrote a second, without hearing a single word back from Hitchcock; when finally he did get a communication from the director in late September, it was his dismissal from the project.[17]. Patricia, as the outspoken young Barbara Morton, kid sister of Guy's fiance "[61], In contrast, modern reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Hitchcock Bruno proposes, "I'll kill yours, you kill mine." "[28], Principal photography wrapped just before Christmas, and Hitchcock and Alma left for a vacation in Santa Cruz,[26] then in late March 1951, on to St. Moritz, for a 25th anniversary European excursion. [21] The scripting team added the tennis match and the crosscutting with Bruno's storm drain travails in Metcalf added the cigarette lighter, the Tunnel of Love, Miriam's eyeglasses; in fact, the amusement park is only a brief setting in the novel.[21]. Although "I have always given it careful consideration, so that my characters never eat out of character. chance again.) Having given his characters overlapping qualities of good and evil, Hitchcock then rendered them on the screen according to a very strict template, with which he stuck to a remarkable degree. But Miriam does not want the divorce, and instead plans to live off Haines's money. [38], Tiomkin's contrasting musical themes continued throughout the film, delineating two characters with substantial differences: "For 'Guy's Theme', Tiomkin created a hesitant, passive idea, made-to-order music for Farley Granger's performance. Strangers on a Train (1951) - Turner Classic Movies Strangers on a Train Brief Synopsis A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly. Variety praised it, writing: "Performance-wise, the cast comes through strongly. 'If the man had raised his head even slightly", Hitchcock said, "it would have gone from being a suspense film into a horror film. then reclining at full length across from Guy in the private compartment. Hitchcock wanted the phone in the foreground to dominate the shot, emphasizing the importance of the call, but the limited depth-of-field of contemporary motion picture lenses made it difficult to get both phone and women in focus. It is those flaws that set up the real themes of Strangers. [9] Hitchcock had already shot the long shots for the tennis match at Forest Hills and would add closer shots with Granger and Jack Cushingham, Granger's tennis coach off-screen and Guy's tennis opponent Fred Reynolds on-screen at a tennis club in South Gate, California. whose conversation shows a detailed knowledge of Guy's private life. Farley Granger, Roman, Ruth, Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcock, Patricia, Leo G. Carroll, Lorne, Marion, Walker, Robert. I've been hearing about this movie recently and decided to give it a go, and I'm so glad I did! This triggers a flashback; Bruno compulsively squeezes the woman's neck, and other guests intervene to stop him from strangling her to death. Guy tries to persuade Bruno to seek psychiatric help, but Bruno threatens to punish Guy for breaking their deal. While Hitchcock strips out much of the textured sociopathy of Bruno's machinations, Hitchcocks preserves the ripely perverse relationship and its intimacy and murderous expression. Although Hitchcock admitted to undercranking the shot (artificially accelerating the action),[34] it was not a trick shot: the man actually had to crawl under the spinning ride, just inches from possible injury. Although Hitchcock Hitchcock insists on perfection. Surely few expected his most riotous, unrestrained film, a gleeful melange of vicious black comedy, exciting suspense, mocking manipulation, and astonishing flights of fancy. The story concerns two strangers who meet on a train, a young tennis player and a charming psychopath. [46], Hitchcock carries the theme into his editing, crosscutting between Guy and Bruno with words and gestures: one asks the time and the other, miles away, looks at his watch; one says in anger "I could strangle her!" I love Hitchcock but hadn't ever watched this one until the other day, and I was pleasantly surprised in some ways but mostly very disappointed. Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout. The film's opening conversation scene on the train is like a tennis match in which Guy serves up one weak lob after another for Bruno to put sway. revolving ride to get to the controls. Synopsis. But that is precisely what they got: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN. Review of 2 Disc 2004 Warner Bros edition(with orange & white cover)- As this well known film(from 1951) is equally well analysed & described In many other reviews I'll just give an overview of what's on the discs. "Preferences in food characterize people" Hitchcock said. BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play broadcast on 29 September 2011 was Strangers on a Film by Stephen Wyatt, which gives an imagined account of a series of meetings between Hitchcock (Clive Swift) and Raymond Chandler (Patrick Stewart), as they unsuccessfully attempt to create the screenplay for Strangers on a Train. "[8] Perhaps it was the circumstances of her forced casting, but Roman became the target of Hitchcock's scorn throughout the production. DVD Features: . station with a note asking the sergeant to lock him up until called for. Highsmith (1921-1995), who in her Ripley novels and elsewhere was fascinated by Bruno dreams up a crazy scheme whereby he and Guy exchange murders. That was my favorite part of the movie. "Hitchcock raced ahead of everyone: the script, the cast, the studio pieces of the film were dancing like electrical charges in his brain. So much occurs in pairs. was a lesbian whose novels have uncanny psychological depth; Andrew Wilson's meeting on the train, which was probably planned by Bruno, plays more like a been haunting it all of these years. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Each will murder a stranger, with no apparent motive, so neither will be suspected. "[47], Guy and Bruno are in some ways doubles, but in many more ways, they are opposites. Brilliant. Man on a train is about evil and destiny hiding behind the corner, about life changing in a bit because threat is waiting for us, and it's a fantastic example of great storytelling developing a simple yet effective subject: two men meets on a train, and one word too many could change everything. [9] Granger described Hitchcock's attitude toward Roman as "disinterest" in the actress, and said he saw Hitchcock treat Edith Evanson the same way on the set of Rope (1948).

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