Hitchcock's most dangerous stunt -- you'll never guess!

OK, think about it for a while. I have other things I want to tell you about first anyhow. The novel was by Patricia Highsmith, and Alfred snuck the movie rights without making a ripple. Buying anonymously, he got the rights to this film for a mere $7,500 -- which just goes to show what poor author's agents can flub.

Once the rights were his, Alfred went first class on turning it into a working script. The majority of the rewrite was done by second-credited Czenzi Ormonde. Although Raymond Chandler was first-credited for the screenplay, the original adaptation was done by Whitfield Cook, leaving Chandler and Ben Hecht (another literary big-gun) to do touch-up work that, for the most part, never saw the screen. In fact, Chandler's choice of ending had Bruno arrested and ending up writhing in a straightjacket. So much for that ending....

There are many who claim this is Hitchcock's finest thriller, and even I can't argue too strongly against that. It tells the tale of a psychopath who victimizes a vulnerable professional tennis player. "I beg your pardon, but aren't you Guy Haines?" It sounds so simple and innocuous being spoken in Robert Walker's whispery voice, but this phrase opens the door to murder.

Walker plays Bruno Antony, a well-off scion of a dicey family. His mother, played by delicious Marion Lorme, hints at Bruno's potential for strangeness. That strangeness just happens to be that he wants - seriously wants - to see his father dead! That's where the plot begins to unfold.

Bruno spots top-seeded (sports writer's erroneous term -- should be "top ceded") Tennis Pro Guy Haines - played with credible weakness by pretty Farley Granger. Guy just happens to be cursed with a wandering wife while doing a little wandering of his own. In the course of the developing acquaintance between these two mis-matched young men, the proposal is made that Bruno would kill Guy's wife if (big IF) Guy would reciprocate by killing Bruno's overbearing father.

The plot is so simple that if described without frills and observations, it wouldn't even qualify for the 100 word epinions minimum! Like the true psychopath he is, Bruno doesn't accept that Guy doesn't really believe him, and proceeds to kill the inconvenient wife. What's worse, he then begins pursuing Guy to return the favor by killing his unpleasant father!

Oddly enough, to me the plot served more for carrying the usual Hitchcock twists and turns and surprises than as the main reason for seeing the movie. Alfred does his usual cameo, of course, but with a difference. He appears early in the film (as always) boarding a train while carrying a bass fiddle. What's different is that this is the second movie in which he has carried that fiddle! I won't tell you which one is the other, but will just let you think about it.

Another exquisite touch is the scene at the tennis match where Guy sits on the sidelines to watch the play. His dark glasses reflect the bleachers on the other side of the court. Watching, all the heads turn back and forth with each volley -- all except one that remains fixed straight ahead. The zoom shows that this one is Bruno, and illustrates beyond words his psychotic fixation.

Then, too, there are the usual Hitchcock touches of humor. I got a kick out of the little boy at the playground who pointed his cap pistol at Bruno -- and Bruno's getting even by popping the kid's balloon with his cigarette. My daughter didn't think that was funny.

The cast is very well chosen, even though Alfred had to do without his usual blonde heroine. I saw this film again on TV the other night and the commentator pointed out that Alfred hadn't chosen Ruth Roman for the "romantic lead" but had to use her because she was under contract to Warner Bros. Studios at the time. She plays Anne Morton, the reason Guy wants to be rid of his wife. An interesting aside is that Anne's sister is played by Patricia Hitchcock -- Alfred's daughter, who also played Caroline in the Hitchcock thriller, Psycho!

Leo G. Carroll plays Senator Morton with his usual hauteur, and Jonathan Hale is the father Bruno wants dead. John Doucette, a reliable cop in dozens of movies and on TV, plays detective Hammond, and there are the usual parade of faces that leave you muttering "I know him/her! What's his/her name?" But there is too much going on in the movie to allow you too much time for such idle pursuits.

Hitchcock's most dangerous stunt? It comes near the end of the film when the merry-go-round runs wild, endangering not only Bruno and Guy, but the innocent kids on the ride as well. A wizened old man volunteers to crawl under the racing ride to reach the center and shut it down. This was not done with special effects (although what happened to the ride was SFX) and the man actually crawled under the speeding ride with serious injury and possible death just a couple of inches above his head! When he saw it in the rushes, Hitchcock vowed never to use such a stunt ever again. Oh, the man who took the risk? A recognized movie character actor (not stunt man) by the name of Harry Hines.

The only real location shots were those at Union Station in Washington, D.C.. All in all, this is a movie that is not only well worth seeing, but one so well done that it will stand seeing again and again. If nothing else, such jewels of dialogue as Bruno's "My theory is that everyone is a potential murderer." Or, his more amoral "I have a theory that you should do everything before you die." My favorite, however, and particularly appropriate as elections draw nearer is Barbara Morton's "Oh, Daddy doesn't mind a little scandal. He's a Senator."

If you're looking for some top flight entertainment, with some genuinely unexpected twists and turns, and some very tasty flavor bursts of humor, this is it. Robert Walker, who died shortly after release of this movie as the result of being injected with sodium amytal by two doctors, was at his most charming peak and will undoubtedly be the Walker you remember from now on. Don't fight it. Follow Bruno's theory about doing everything, and watch this movie. Enjoy.