Strangers on a Train
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- This article is about the Alfred Hitchcock film. For information about the musical group The Left Banke's album of the same name, see Strangers On A Train (album).
Template:Infobox Film Strangers on a Train is a film released in 1951 by Warner Bros. The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film starred Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Kasey Rogers and Patricia Hitchcock. The movie was based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, who also wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley. Detective novelist Raymond Chandler wrote an early draft of the screenplay.
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The plot
Tennis star Guy Haines (Granger) wants to divorce his unfaithful wife in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Morton (Roman). Haines meets the unstable and psychotic Bruno Anthony (Walker) on a train and Bruno tells Guy about his idea to exchange murders: Bruno would kill Guy's wife if Guy kills Bruno's father, and then both of them would be 'free' to do whatever they want. Guy does not take Bruno seriously, but Bruno kills Guy's wife and then demands that Guy honors his part of the bargain. Because of the obvious motives he had, Guy is immediately suspected by the police and now he must prove himself innocent. However, it becomes more and more difficult as Bruno makes more appearances to remind Guy about the murder and slowly more people get involved.
The motif of the double
Like Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train is one of many Hitchcock films to explore the doppelgänger theme. The film employs a number of puns and visual metaphors to suggest the motif of double-crossing and crossing one's double.
A few examples:
- Bruno orders two double drinks on the train in the beginning of the film.
- Guy's lighter, which plays an important role in the film, features two crossed tennis rackets.
- A murder committed early in the film is seen doubly reflected in both lenses of the victim's glasses.
- Hitchcock's cameo comes early in the film, as he carries a double-bass — the physical double for the round director.
"Isn't it a fascinating design?" Hitchcock said in an interview with François Truffaut; "One could study it forever." Image:Strangers on a train.jpg
Alternate versions
An early preview edit of the film, sometimes erroneously labeled the "British" version (in fact it was never released in Britain or anywhere else), includes some different scenes than the film as released. Both versions are currently available on DVD.
Differences from the novel
- The character called Bruno Anthony in the film is called Charles Anthony Bruno in the book, and is far less charming than Robert Walker's incarnation of him.
- In the film, Guy agrees to kill Bruno's father but instead attempts to warn him about his son's insanity; in the novel, Guy does go through with the murder.
Parodies
Hitchcock's film was the basis for the comedy Throw Momma From the Train (1987), starring Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito.
This method of committing murder has been referenced in several television series. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, in the episode A Night at the Movies, investigated a crime similar to the plot of Strangers on a Train. The idea itself for the crime came from Strangers on a Train. In the episode, two women meet at an art house movie theater. One has a sexual abuse suit against a dentist, the other has a suit against her boss. The two apparently agree to "solve each others problems." One of the women kills the dentist that sexually abused the woman, but the other woman does not hold up her end of the bargain.
Another crime drama series, Law and Order, used Strangers on a Train as the inspiration for an episode. In C.O.D., a delivery man is shot on the stoop of a house in Manhattan, which leads the detectives to his wife, whom he was cheating on with several other women. The other woman in the scheme wanted her husband dead so she could inherit his fortune, which he was attempting to prevent her from spending. Unlike Strangers on a Train, both women committed their individual murders, one before the timeline in the episode, and the other at the beginning.
In an episode of the comedy Peep Show, the two main characters (Mark Corrigan and Jeremy Osborne) decide to get revenge on each other's enemies, with a reference to Strangers on a Train included.
External links
- {{{2|{{{title|Strangers on a Train}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- Classic Movies: Strangers on a Train (1951)
- Strangers on a Train Review
- Ron Collins, "Strangers on a Page: Highsmith & Camus"
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