Strangers on a Train is one of the AFI’s 100 Thrills selections. It was also my pick for Hitchcock Month on Flick Buddies.
WOW. I hadn’t seen this before and basically all I knew was that it was the inspiration for the movie Throw Momma From the Train (which I had seen). This movie is insane.
Guy is waiting to get a divorce from his wife so he can marry Anne. He ends up on a train with a chatty guy named Bruno. Bruno is one of those people who almost literally cannot stop talking, ever, and the conversation turns to murder. Bruno has the best murder plot EVER: what if two guys met by mistake and agreed to commit each other’s murder for them? No motive, no way to get caught. Guy wants Miriam (wife) dead and Bruno wants his father dead. Perfect! Guy humors him and Bruno takes that as agreement. And next thing you know, Miriam is dead and Guy is still the number one suspect.
Bruno is completely insane. He’s not a bad guy, really (not in the way that, say, Grace Kelly’s husband in Dial M For Murder is bad). He’s just crazy. And he is completely baffled at Guy’s hesitation in killing Bruno’s father. IT’S YOUR TURN, GUY.
This is an incredibly fun (and suspenseful) movie but it’s definitely not on the same level as most of the other Hitchcock movies I’ve seen (but much better than Rope, I thought).
I’m excited to see the other Flick Buddies picks (Marnie, Torn Curtain and Rebecca). I’m hoping to blog every Thursday, so keep an eye out. :)
I put “Strangers on a Train” in the same Hitchcock class as “The Lady Vanishes,” “Foreign Correspondent,” etc: they’re fun, well made, but kind of kitchy. My favorite Hitchcock film is “North by Northwest.” Cary Grant and Eva-Marie Saint have such amazing chemistry, it’s ridiculous. Also, her character was one of the first really “liberated” women in film. She was traveling without a man. She tipped a porter to bring a handsome man to her table, and (it’s implied) she schtupped him. Anyway. That’s my favorite Hitchcock tale. Also “Shadow of a Doubt,” which is his middle period (with “Strangers,” etc).