Strangers on a Train (1951)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Patricia Highsmith (novel)
Whitfield Cook (adaptation)

Release Date:

3 July 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

A girl in love with young America's idol--and a good-looking stranger in search of sensation--that's how it all began..! Warner Bros. bring a pounding new tempo to motion picture entertainment!

Plot:

A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder... a theory which he plans to implement.

Plot Keywords:

Father | Psychological Thriller | Wife | Macabre | Atmospheric

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Farley Granger	...	Guy Haines
Ruth Roman	...	Anne Morton
Robert Walker	...	Bruno Anthony
Leo G. Carroll	...	Sen. Morton
Patricia Hitchcock	...	Barbara Morton
Kasey Rogers	...	Miriam Joyce Haines (as Laura Elliott)
Marion Lorne	...	Mrs. Anthony
Jonathan Hale	...	Mr. Anthony
Howard St. John	...	Police Capt. Turley
John Brown	...	Prof. Collins
Norma Varden	...	Mrs. Cunningham
Robert Gist	...	Leslie Hennessy

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some violence and tension.

Runtime:

101 min | 103 min (preview version) | Portugal:96 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) (2004) | Germany:12 (DVD) | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Spain:13 | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Sweden:15 | Finland:K-16 | France:U (re-release) | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #14946) | USA:PG | Argentina:13 | Norway:16

Filming Locations:

Danbury Railroad Station - 120 White Street, Danbury, Connecticut, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

As Guy leaves the last match, part of a quotation clearly including the words "two impostors" is visible on the beam above his head. It is from Rudyard Kipling's poem "If." The line reads "If you can meet with triumph and disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same..."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the detectives lose Guy outside the Forest Hills tennis stadium, they are shown standing on a curb, with a black car parked down the street behind them, before Hennesey dashes out across the street and flags down another vehicle. When he jumps in and asks the woman in the back seat to let them follow Guy's cab, the same street and parked black car are seen through that vehicle's rear window, even though that car was plainly stopped coming from a different street and a different direction.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Bruno Anthony: I beg your pardon, but aren't you Guy Haines?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Bedfellows (#6.5)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Bill Grogan's Goat

The Movie Is A Major Improvement Over The Book

Usually, it is the other way around, but in this case, the movie is a major improvement over the original book.

I had seen this wonderful movie at least a dozen times, before I managed to find a copy of the book it was taken from....the book has the same title and was written by Patricia Highsmith.

I scoured the used bookstores for years, before I finally found a copy, and because the movie was SO good, I could not wait to begin reading the story in its original version.

I was never so disappointed!

Not because the book is unreadable...but because Hitchcock made such vast improvements over the book that the book simply does not come close to measuring up to the movie version.

That said, let me now comment on Robert Walker's amazing performance as Bruno Antony.

This was Robert Walker's last completed performance...he died while shooting his final film, "My Son John," in August, 1951.

This role as Bruno was the performance of his career!

Perfect in every way.

The movie has been around now for nearly half a century. I see it every time it is shown on television, and I also watch the tape I have of it occasionally.

Robert Walker's performance only seems to improve with each new viewing.

I can not recommend this movie highly enough.

If Hitchcock and Robert Walker can read me, up there in heaven, let me congratulate them both on an absolutely superlative job!