Bruno knows about Guy well from reading gossip papers. Strangers on a Train is a 1951 American psychological thriller film noir produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and based on the 1950 novel Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. been all wrong -- too sturdy, too put off by Bruno (despite the way Holden wants dead. always used the convention that the left side of the screen is for evil and/or 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. Unfortunately, he is serious while Guy brushes it off. effective scene shows Guy floating in a little boat through the Tunnel of Love 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. "criss-cross" murder deal in "Strangers on a Train" indeed The unusual angle was a more complex proposition than it seems. in his childhood, when his father sent naughty little Alfred to the police Robert Walker performance benefits from a subtle tense urgency that perhaps [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. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. weaker characters, while the right is for characters who are either good, or One studio press release gave rise to a myth that still lingers on today. Strangers On A Train is about two men, Guy Haines and Bruno Anthony, who meet on a train by accidentally knocking shoes. To add the following enhancements to your purchase, choose a different seller. during an early meeting involving Guy and the senator's whole family; she keeps Realizing that Guy is not the murderer, the police ask him to come to the station to tie up loose ends. Strangers On a Train (1951) In Alfred Hitchcock's thriller - an adaptation from Patricia Highsmith's first novel about amoral murderers who 'traded' or 'exchanged' crimes: the opening sequence introduced the duality of the two 'strangers on a train' with their distinctive contrasting shoes: - Bruno Antony (Robert Walker), a . Co-adapted by Raymond Chandler from a novel by Patricia Highsmith, Strangers on a Train perfectly exemplifies Hitchcock's favorite theme of the evil that lurks just below the surface of. With an emphasis on narrative and visual strategy, Hitchcock controls the escalating tension with a master's flair for cinematic design, and the plot (coscripted by Raymond Chandler) is so tightly constructed that you'll be white-knuckled even after multiple viewings. Even classic endeavors like Fargo and A Simple Plan seem directly fueled by this concept"[64], Almar Haflidason was effusive about Strangers on a Train in 2001 at the BBC website: "Hitchcock's favourite device of an ordinary man caught in an ever-tightening web of fear plunges Guy into one of the director's most fiendishly effective movies. The psychopath suggests that because they each want to "get rid" of someone, they should "exchange" murders, and that way neither will be caught. "[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. inspiration of a very large dog to distract the audience from what he would Once on the train, Bruno orders a pair of double drinks "The only kind of doubles I play", he says charmingly. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Highsmith was a chameleon, a renegade, an experimenter, a loner, and a fantastically brave innovator. in a public fight with her earlier on the day of her death, and even told his fiance The novel has been adapted multiple times, most famously by Alfred Hitchcock in his 1951 film. Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2022. Anne. Guy infers that Bruno intends to plant it at the scene of the murder and incriminate him. The [13] Treatment writer Cook used Guy to make the film "a parable quietly defiant of the Cold War hysteria sweeping America. "Shadow of a Doubt"), and its appeal is probably the linking of an First Hitchcock got the exterior shots in Canoga Park, using both actors, then later he had Elliott alone report to a soundstage where there was a large concave reflector set on the floor. [40] It is a score that "goes largely uncelebrated."[40]. Hitchcock DVD Features:Interactive MenusNewsreel:Hitchcock newsreel footageProduction NotesScene AccessTheatrical Trailer:Five trailers of Hitchcock movies, From its cleverly choreographed opening sequence to its heart-stopping climax on a rampant carousel, this 1951 Hitchcock classic readily earns its reputation as one of the director's finest examples of timeless cinematic suspense. This is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most complex amd multi-layered films. subtext. Guy meets with Miriam, who is pregnant by someone else, at her workplace in Metcalf, their hometown. was a lesbian whose novels have uncanny psychological depth; Andrew Wilson's On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The creepiness factor holds up very well. Robert Walker is uncanny. It looks like WhatsApp is not installed on your phone. Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2021. With no known link between the two men, the police would be none the wiser, would they? [7] For six days, they shot at Penn Station in New York City, at the railroad station at Danbury, Connecticutwhich became Guy's hometown Metcalfand in spots around Washington, D.C.[7]. One could study it forever. Guy with him than with Granger's playboy. A film of noir moments galore. Strangers on a Train (1951) was director Alfred Hitchcock's suspenseful, noirish black and white thriller about two train passengers: tennis pro Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and psychopathic dandy Bruno Antony (Robert Walker), who staged a battle of wits and proposed trading motiveless murders with each other. Patricia, as the outspoken young Barbara Morton, kid sister of Guy's fiance "[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. similar eyeglasses; Bruno is playfully demonstrating strangling techniques at a Strangers On A Train, a masterpiece, presented here in a finely produced HD release. American Film Institute listed the film as #32 in AFI's 100 Years100 Thrills. Mysterious Bruno (Robert Walker) hates his father. [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. rotate in the same direction -- except one.). [14] Talks with Dashiell Hammett got further,[12] but here too communications ultimately broke down, and Hammett never took the assignment. Hitchcock [12], Securing the rights to the novel was the least of the hurdles Hitchcock would have to vault to get the property from printed page to screen. there's the famous sequence involving a runaway merry-go-round, on which Guy The psychological game that Bruno plays on Guy is to force him to kill Bruno's over-bearing father. She initially praised it, writing: "I am pleased in general. audiences would sense qualities in the actors that didn't need to be spelled and the other, far distant, makes a choking gesture. is this sense of two flawed characters -- one evil, one weak, with an unstated allowed an aging actress to manipulate him in "Sunset Boulevard"). Bruno is rather a child. Synopsis. At first glance, Guy represents the ordered life where people stick to rules, while Bruno comes from the world of chaos,[49] where they get thrown out of multiple colleges for drinking and gambling. I suspect the things we might see so plainly now - the homosexual longing in Bruno, the wicked contrast of the man of action and the man of ideas, the superficiality of Guy and the hungry depth . What is the climax in Strangers on a Train? Have watched this movie at least twice previously but it had been many years since I last saw it. "[60] Leslie Halliwell felt that Hitchcock was "at his best" and that the film "makes superior suspense entertainment," but called the story "unsatisfactory. [46], This doubling has some precedent in the novel; but more of it was deliberately added by Hitchcock, "dictated in rapid and inspired profusion to Czenzi Ormonde and Barbara Keon during the last days of script preparation. "On one side of the street, [are] stately respectable houses; towering in the background, on the right of the screen, the floodlit dome of the U.S. Capitol, the life to which Guy aspires, the world of light and order. "Holden would have been all wrongtoo sturdy, too put off by Bruno", writes critic Roger Ebert. [33], The explosion is triggered by the attempts of a carnival man to stop the ride after crawling under the whirling carousel deck to get to the controls in the center. Once Bruno Antony acts on 'removing' Guy's wife, the movie ytakes off. On the train, he is recognized by Bruno Antony ( Robert Walker ), an overly friendly man who talks Guy into having lunch with him in his private cabin. fiction when she actually writes mainstream fiction about criminals. Guy tries to persuade Bruno to seek psychiatric help, but Bruno threatens to punish Guy for breaking their deal. "When Bruno openly suggests he would like to kill his wife, he merely grins and says 'That's a morbid thought,' but we sense the tension that underlies it. Together the three women, working under the boss's guidance and late into most nights,[17] finished enough of the script in time to send the company East. Buy it! "[46] It undergirds the whole film because it finally serves to associate the world of light, order, and vitality with the world of darkness, chaos, lunacy and death. Let me remind you that even the most unworthy of us has a right to life and the pursuit of happiness. 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