Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train

Based on a book by Patricia Highsmith, Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train follows tennis pro Guy Haines (Farley Granger) as he meets an oddball individual (Robert Walker’s Bruno Antony) during a train ride and is subsequently drawn into a progressively deadly murder scheme. It’s a solid premise that’s employed to consistently captivating effect by Alfred Hitchcock, as the director, working from a screenplay by Raymond Chandler, Whitfield Cook, and Czenzi Ormonde, delivers a deliberately-paced yet often thoroughly spellbinding thriller that benefits from a raft of above-average elements – with, for example, the various performances playing an instrumental role in keeping things interesting throughout. (Granger’s fine turn as the bland protagonist is no match for Walker’s scene-stealing work here, while Patricia Hitchcock, cast as a curious, sarcastic teenager, remains an ongoing highlight within the proceedings.) There’s little doubt, ultimately, that Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train‘s most potent weapon is Hitchcock himself, as the iconic filmmaker does a superb job of infusing several key sequences with an edge-of-your-seat tension that proves impossible to resist (eg Bruno’s pursuit and eventual murder of his prey, Guy attempts to deal with the Bruno problem, etc) – which, when coupled with an almost astonishingly exciting climax, cements Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train‘s place as a top-tier effort from the Master of Suspense.

***1/2 out of ****