This triggers a flashback; Bruno compulsively squeezes the woman's neck, and other guests intervene to stop him from strangling the woman to death. His personality is so unattractive that it makes you wonder how Ruth Roman could ever be in love with him. The press release embellished the tale, claiming he left her "dangling in total darkness for an hour,"[35] only then allowing his "trembling daughter" to be lowered and released. The psychopath suggests that because they each want to "get rid" of someone, they should "exchange" murders, and that way neither will be caught. Strangers on a Train [35], Composer Dimitri Tiomkin was Jack Warner's choice to score Strangers on a Train. "[13] 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. Voyeurism also plays a prominent role in Strangers on a Train, but in contrast with some of Hitchcock's other work, the most interesting voyeurs of that work are not male, but female. Next, Hitchcock tried to hire Ben Hecht, but learned he was unavailable. On a train, smooth-talking psychopath Bruno Antony recognizes Haines and reveals his idea for a murder scheme: two perfect strangers meet and "swap murders" — Bruno suggests he kill Miriam and Guy kill Bruno's hated father. The pair has what writer Peter Dellolio refers to as a "dark symbiosis. Strangers on a Train (1950) is a suspense thriller by Patricia Highsmith, based on the premise that two strangers swap murders. There can be no compromise in his work, his food or his wines. "Hitchcock told me that this scene was the most personally frightening moment for him in any of his films", writes biographer Charlotte Chandler. It was shot in the autumn of 1950 and released by Warner Bros. on June 30, 1951. It all leads the police to believe Guy is responsible for the murder, forcing him to deal with Bruno's mad ravings. So Hitchcock had an oversized phone constructed and placed in the foreground. —Paula Hawkins, Strangers on a Train, A Novel, Patricia Highsmith, Paula Hawkins, 9780393351934 Some people are better off dead.") He has no patience with mediocrity on the set or at a dinner table. Strangers on a Train marked something of a renaissance for Hitchcock, after several years of low enthusiasm for his late-1940s output,[24] and he threw himself into the micromanagement of some of its production. Even classic endeavors like Fargo and A Simple Plan seem directly fueled by this concept..."[61], 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. [16]—always a plus with Hitchcock. And since it is Guy's foot that taps Bruno's under the table, we know Bruno has not engineered the meeting. He got a treatment that pleased him on the second attempt, from writer Whitfield Cook, who wove a homoerotic subtext (only hinted at in the novel) into the story and softened Bruno from a coarse alcoholic into a dapper, charming mama's boy — a much more Hitchcockian villain. But, for all that, his basic premise of fear fired by menace is so thin and so utterly unconvincing that the story just does not stand. 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. "[36] The powerful music accurately underscores the visuals of that title sequence — the massive granite edifice of New York's Pennsylvania Station, standing in for Washington's Union Station—because it was scored for an unusually large orchestra, including alto, tenor and baritone saxes, three clarinets, four horns, three pianos and a novachord. "[22], Burks considered his fourteen years with Hitchcock the best of his career: "You never have any trouble with him as long as you know your job and do it. Senator. Yet as Bruno describes his "theories" over lunch, "Guy responds to Bruno — we see it in his face, at once amused and tense. He found exactly what he needed right on the Warners lot in the person of staff cameraman Robert Burks, who would continue to work with Hitchcock, shooting every Hitchcock picture through to Marnie (1964), with the exception of Psycho. A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies. He told the obscure writer that the famous one hadn't written a solitary line he intended to use, and they would have to start all over on page one, using Cook's treatment as a guide. Strangers on a Train Lyrics: You're not listening / And all my words are lost and found / Both want something new / I'll take the sky, you keep the … A psychopath forces a tennis star to comply with his theory that two strangers can get away with murder. Granger is excellent as the harassed young man innocently involved in murder. Each will murder a total stranger, with no apparent motive, so neither will be suspected. "You're a free man now", he says, just as a police car drives up, looking for the husband of a certain recent murder victim. "[44] Bruno embodies Guy's dark desire to kill Miriam, a "real-life incarnation of Guy's wish-fulfillment fantasy".[44]. Hitchcock's even-strained response: "Cut. [45], 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!" This fear is at the heart of many of his best films, including "Strangers on a Train" (1951), in which a man becomes the obvious suspect in the strangulation of his wife. Guy wants to move into a career in politics and has been dating Senator Morton's daughter Anne while awaiting a divorce from his wife. [67], Strangers on a Train was adapted for the radio program Lux Radio Theatre on two occasions: on December 3, 1951, with Ruth Roman, Frank Lovejoy, and Ray Milland, and on April 12, 1954, with Virginia Mayo, Dana Andrews, and Robert Cummings.[43]. [8] 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. [12] Treatment writer Cook used Guy to make the film "a parable quietly defiant of the Cold War hysteria sweeping America. with any force or conviction. At first glance, Guy represents the ordered life where people stick to rules, while Bruno comes from the world of chaos,[48] where they get thrown out of multiple colleges for drinking and gambling. [32], 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. She threatens to claim that he is the father, in order to thwart any divorce-attempt. View production, box office, & company info. " Strangers on a Train is a moral-vertigo thriller: Crime and Punishment for a post-atomic age." The rest was complete by early November. As with Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train is one of many Hitchcock films to explore the doppelgänger theme. [42] First of all, she was not up there alone: flanking her were the actors playing Miriam's two boyfriends — "and I have a picture of us waving. As Guy Haines (Farley Granger) climbs down off the train, he nearly bumps into Hitchcock who is struggling slightly with a cello case. He called the meetings "god-awful jabber sessions which seem to be an inevitable although painful part of the picture business. He is also something of a hedonist. Guy dismisses it all out of hand, but Bruno goes ahead with his half of the "bargain" and disposes of Miriam. "[49], Bruno tells Guy early on that he admires him: "I certainly admire people who do things", he says. She initially praised it, writing: "I am pleased in general. Variety praised it, writing: "Performance-wise, the cast comes through strongly. Some of the images in this film are quite striking.....the reflection in the victim's glasses, the tennis match where everyone is watching the ball except Walker, and the fingers groping in the drain for the lighter. Strangers on a train Before I ventured to Bodnant Gardens . Instead of arresting Guy, the police assign an around-the-clock escort to watch him. [45], 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. Whether you watch weekly or want to join in for the big finish, get ready for these big Spring TV and streaming finales. "[26], One of the most memorable single shots in the Hitchcock canon — it "is studied by film classes", says Laura Elliott, who played Miriam[27] – is her character's strangulation by Bruno on the Magic Isle. It is those flaws that set up the real themes of Strangers. West Side Tennis Club - 1 Tennis Place, Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. "[27], Principal photography wrapped just before Christmas, and Hitchcock and Alma left for a vacation in Santa Cruz,[25] then in late March 1951, on to St. Moritz, for a 25th anniversary European excursion. The two sets of feet in the title sequence match each other in motion and in cutting, but they immediately establish the contrast between the two men: the first shoes "showy, vulgar brown-and-white brogues; [the] second, plain, unadorned walking shoes. Guy goes to the Mortons' home, where Anne's father informs Guy that his wife has been murdered. Although Hitchcock admitted to undercranking the shot (artificially accelerating the action),[33] it was not a trick shot: the man actually had to crawl under the spinning ride, just inches from possible injury. "[21], Hitchcock took a toy carousel and photographed it blown up by a small charge of explosives. [8], Kasey Rogers (whose performance as Miriam is credited as Laura Elliott) noted that she had perfect vision at the time the movie was made, but Hitchcock insisted she wear the character's thick eyeglasses, even in long shots when regular glass lenses would have been undetectable. The film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Robert Walker. A former tennis player tries to arrange his wife's murder after learning of her affair. "[43], The film includes a number of puns and visual metaphors that demonstrate a running motif of crisscross, double-crossing, and crossing one's double. As part of the 1997 Hitchcock Season on BBC2, several short guest interviews were filmed. [3] "Granger is softer and more elusive, more convincing as he tries to slip out of Bruno's conversational web instead of flatly rejecting him. "Preferences in food characterize people..." Hitchcock said. Her suspicions aroused, Anne confronts Guy, who tells her the truth about Bruno's crazy scheme. When Guy balks, Bruno makes it clear that he will plant evidence to implicate Guy in her murder if he doesn't get rid of his father. "[59] Leslie Halliwell felt that Hitchcock was "at his best" and that the film "makes superior suspense entertainment," but called the story "unsatisfactory. Anne's sister Barbara says that the police will think that Guy is the murderer since he has a motive. Guy humors Bruno by pretending to find his idea amusing, but is so eager to get away from Bruno that he carelessly leaves behind his engraved cigarette lighter, which Bruno keeps. Hecht suggested his assistant, Czenzi Ormonde, to write the screenplay. He wanted the last line of the film to be Guy describing Bruno as "a very clever fellow". Was this review helpful to you? I read the book after seeing the movie and I was biased by the images from the film that kept popping before my eyes. "Hitchcock raced ahead of everyone: the script, the cast, the studio... pieces of the film were dancing like electrical charges in his brain. His dark, perverse character is the epitome of evil with a smiling face. They argue loudly. Together the three women, working under the boss's guidance and late into most nights,[15] finished enough of the script in time to send the company East. "The man who crawled under the out-of-control carousel was not an actor or a stuntman, but a carousel operator who volunteered for the job. [41] Hitchcock and Patricia both were afraid of heights, and father offered daughter a hundred dollars to ride the Ferris wheel — only to order the power cut, leaving her in the dark at the very top of the ride. A serendipitous encounter with a Hungarian survivor leads to an incredible reunion. As usual, Hitchcock kept his name out of the negotiations to keep the purchase price low. As Bruno dies, his fingers open to reveal Guy's lighter in his hand. "Me, I never do anything important." Written by While Bruno is murdering Miriam, Guy is on the train to Washington, D.C. Then a grip put a normal-sized phone on the table, where she picked it up. The story concerns two strangers who meet on a train, a young tennis player and a charming psychopath. Rish Shah To Co-Star In The Netflix Pic ‘Strangers’ From ‘Someone Great’ Director, Movie Poster of the Week: Alfred Hitchcock in His Posters, ’Loving Highsmith,’ Casting New Light on the Crime Novelist, Taken by Filmcoopi, Salzgeber & Co (Exclusive), Gotta Love To Hate 'Em: Cinema's Top Villains, Favourite Classics Old-Old Time & Film-Noir. Work, his fingers open to reveal Guy 's foot that taps Bruno 's under table. Shrieking excitement [ 35 ], the police to believe Guy is on the table where... Was one of Hitchcock 's best films but it certainly should be on everyone 's list a... Detective. [ 22 ] a shriek of a Doubt, strangers on book. Most prominently omits the final scene on the Train to Washington, D.C, in order to thwart divorce-attempt! Goes to the man committed to a myth that still lingers on today Czenzi Ormonde, to write screenplay. Exteriors would be their last collaboration moral-vertigo thriller: Crime and Punishment for a post-atomic age ''. 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