Review of Strangers on a Train (1951) by Tomas T — 13 Apr 2013

Strangers on a Train is yet another great psychological thriller from director legend Alfred Hitchcock. The film might not be among Hitchcock's most famous and recognized thrillers but it contains all of the director legend's trademarks; excellent directing far ahead of its time and a story filled with mystery, intensity and suspense.

Strangers on a Train tells about a chance encounter on a train which entangles two vastly different character's and their destinies' together. Guy Heines (Farley Granger) is a promising young tennis player in love crisis with his blackmailing ex-wife unwilling to allow him to pursue happiness with another woman. On a train ride Guy encouters a seemingly harmless gentleman, Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) who has a morbid solution for Guy's problem. As Guy shrugs off Bruno and his crazy plan to commit a perfect murder, little does Guy know that Bruno in his delusional mind is fully committed in going through with his homocidal plan.

I liked Strangers on a Train especially Robert Walker's portrayal of mentally unstable Bruno made a permanent impression and would go as far as to say that he is the highlight of Strangers on a Train leaving other actors completely in his shadow. Story wise the Strangers on a Train is quite typical Hitchcock film as the director has always been master in creating suspense out of ordinary characters who find them in most unordinary situations. This is especially true with Strangers on a Train as it begans slowly with seemingly unengaging story and characters but in no time the viewer is fully immersed and engaged in Hitchcock's mystery. There was a phase around middle of the running time where I felt that the story made no real progress and the intensity dropped somewhat, but thankfully the film managed to pick up the intensity towards the end climax.

In the end Strangers on a Train in my books is not among Hitchcock's best thrillers, but it is still a very good film and I doubt anybody who enjoys a good psychological thriller would say otherwise.