Review of Strangers on a Train (1951) by Jacob M — 30 Jun 2013

Two total strangers, one a tennis player named Guy Haines (Farley Granger), a man who wants to divorce his wife Miriam (Laura Elliott) in order to marry a senator's daughter (Ruth Roman), while the other stranger is the wealthy Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), who hates his rich father (Jonathan Hale). Bruno has the idea where the two exchange murders of the two they hate so much so there would be no connection and everything would go as normal. Guy, believing Bruno to be a sick psychopath, wants no part of it. But when Bruno murders Miriam anyway, Guy gets the blame, and Bruno does everything in his path to get Guy to murder his father, even if it means stalking.

Alfred Hitchcock makes a memorable cameo as a man carrying a bass instrument onto a train, while Hitchcock veteran Leo G Carroll plays the Senator.

During the 1940's, Hitchcock was on a roll, making hugely popular and suspenseful films, such as Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound, and Notorious. But in the later part of the decade, some of Hitchcock's films were viewed as disappointments, with many considering that Hitchcock was losing his touch. But when Strangers on a Train was released in 1951, people changed their minds, and Hitchcock spent the rest of the decade making some of his most famous works, such as To Catch a Thief, Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and North by Northwest. But how does Hitchcock's comeback film turn out? The answer is a big, fat yes.

Strangers on a Train shows how pure genius Hitchcock really is and proves to Hollywood and all of America that nobody can make a pure suspenseful ride quite like The Master of Suspense. There's a clear reason why a film involving a double murder works so well, and it would have to be the fact that Hitchcock was once accused of murdering someone, even though he was innocent. He used his own experience to make a richly drawn film involving a similar story.

The cast is excellent. Farley Granger is well done as the tennis player who wants to forget the crazy plan, Ruth Roman is attractive and entertaining as the love interest, and I'm surprised that she wasn't blonde like some of Hitchcock's other female leads, and, even though she was only in the film for 10 minutes, Laura Elliott as the other woman was just spectacular. The scene where she gets murdered in an amusement park is a huge highlight of the film.

But the real star of the film is Robert Walker as Bruno Anthony. Like in many Hitchcock films, Walker is menacing, sick, twisted, and just plain evil. From his murder scene early on to the crazy, insane climax on a merry-go-round, Walker is a highlight and the reason why a film like this works, along with Hitchcock's direction of course.

Strangers on a Train proves without a doubt that Hitchcock is a talented director with a passion for making suspenseful films. There will never be another director like him and I wish he was still around to show the world who's still The Master of Suspense.