Strangers on a Train

You hate somebody for messing up your life. You know your life would be better if they were dead. But how can you get away with this? Easy, get someone else who has no connection with this person to do this. But who? Find someone who has to get rid of someone too. Interested? Great idea! Perfect?he cannot be connected to yours and you not to his. Will he take you up on this trade? Will this barter of murders work? (Is it normal to think this way?)

Strangers On A Train directed by Alfred Hitchcock explores this idea of a perfect murder.

Farley Grainger plays Guy Haines a well-known tennis player who meets Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) on the train. Bruno, who is a fan, strikes up a conversation with Guy. One thing leads to another and Bruno offers to do away with Guy?s wife if he agrees to murder his father. Bruno is from a rich family with a domineering father and a light-in-the-head mother. Guy is stuck in a loveless marriage with an unfaithful wife, Merriam Haines (Laura Elliot). He is in love with a senator?s daughter, Ann Morton (Ruth Roman), intending to marry her once his divorce with Merriam is final. Merriam, however, realizes that she is better off married to Guy and refuses to divorce him.

The rest that follows is a thriller. Unlike some other Hitchcock movies, this is not a murder mystery. We do know the murderer and the only mystery is will the real killer be caught or will Guy end up paying for the crime committed by Bruno.

There is one point in the movie,

Guy has to account for his whereabouts at the time the murder occurred. He was on a train at that time, and as an alibi he names a fellow passenger on the train. This man, who was drunk at the time, denies meeting Guy, or even being on the train.


This made all kinds of bells ring in my brain. I was wondering if Bruno set up Guy for this?does this man have some kind of vested interest?maybe Guy is involved in some way and so on.

Some of these questions remained unanswered.

This was a loose end in the story. Other than this though the movie is pretty compact, and well directed. It does keep one on the seat?s edge which is expected of a Hitchcock presentation.

Robert Walker?s Bruno is very believable, passionate and natural in his performance. However, the other lead players leave much to be desired. This is especially true of Farley Grainger who is very wooden and unable to show any emotions.

Another thing that bothered me throughout the movie was Bruno. I kept thinking that I had seen him somewhere but could not place him. On doing some research, I found that he had a namesake look-alike son who also was an actor and did small parts in Columbo (besides Easy rider and some other movies in the seventies). The resemblance between father and son is uncanny.

I would recommend this movie for all fans of crime and mystery movies. You will not be disappointed with this one.