Strangers on a Train

Released 1951
Runtime 101
Category Mystery/Thrillers
Language English
Director Alfred Hitchcock
Cast Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll, Laura Elliott, Jonathan Hale
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What it’s about

On a train departing the nation’s capital, tennis champion Guy Haines (Granger) meets a wealthy young admirer, Bruno Antony (Walker), who seems to know a lot about his unhappy marriage to clingy Miriam (Elliott). As they converse, Bruno reveals that he despises his overbearing father (Hale), and proposes — theoretically — an “exchange murder.” Guy laughs off the suggestion. But soon after they reach their end destination, Miriam turns up dead, strangled by an unknown assailant…

Why we love it

Adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel, Hitchcock’s “Strangers” is a wickedly smart, noirish spin on the old theme of humanity’s dual (and dueling) nature: good and evil. Having dispatched Guy’s wife, Bruno keeps turning up in inopportune places, taunting the guilt-stricken tennis pro with the firm request that he return the favor. Hitchcock’s use of “double” images — crossed tennis rackets, train tracks, shoes — to illustrate the dark connection between the two men is dead-on brilliant, but it’s the violent finale on a fairground carousel that makes this suspense film a true classic.

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