Strangers on a train

Year of release : 1951

Run time : 1h41m

Genre : Suspense / Crime / Psychological Thriller / Noir

Director : Alfred Hitchcock

The movie is loosely based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith.

One day on a train, Bruno Anthony recognizes tennis player Guy Haines, and after talking to him for a bit (he asks for a lighter which he never gives back), offers to k1ll his promiscuous wife, if he k1lls his father, as his father wants him to work and stop spending so much, and he doesn't. Guy seems to refuse while trying not to upset Bruno, agreeing with him.

Guy goes to see his wife whom he sponsors, and while hoping for a divorce, the woman, who is pregnant with another man's child, refuses to divorce him, seeing he is rich now.

He calls his girlfriend, the daughter of an US senator, and rants on the phone about how he could k1ll her. He even calls Bruno and talks to him until their connection interrupts.

Bruno looks up Guy's wife's address in the phone book, goes to her place, and follows her, as she is going to an amusement park with two men. The woman notices him, and keeps on looking at him, seeming interested in him. Using this to his advantage, he manages to str@ngle her.

Bruno goes to Guy that same night telling him it's done. At that very time, the police come to his place. Bruno gives Guy her broken glasses as proof, and asks him to keep his part of the deal.

Guy doesn't know what to do, as the police tail him, the man he spoke to on the train the night of the murd3r doesn't recognize him, and Bruno pressures him to k1ll a man he doesn't want to, or he'll go to the police and plant his lighter at the scene of the crime.

I personally enjoyed the movie.

I liked how beautiful the world looked back then, from the architecture to the interior design with the beautifully carved furniture. I also liked how elegant people were back then, the beautiful dresses the women wore, and the classy suits the men wore.

One of the things that bothered me was at the end, when the carousel gets destroyed with people and kids on it, but it's never addressed, as the cop/detective tries to shoot Guy, but he shoots the man working on the carousel, which makes him hit the faster speed, wrecking havoc. After all this happened, the police don't seem to know it was all their fault, they act like the carousel disaster never happened, no ambulance or more police come to the scene! They just leave with Guy, while Bruno lies dead trapped in the carousel!

Another scene is when Bruno almost loses the lighter, as it falls into the manhole (I don't think it's called like that). He sticks his hand in there, the lighter falls deeper, but he still, manages to stick his hand deeper inside, and get it! How?! The bars were pretty close together!There's no way his hand / arm could have fit!

 

About the movie poster - I don't know why the lead is with the cigarette in his mouth, because I don't remember him ever smoking in the movie!

The acting was good.

I didn't like the soundtrack.

At the time of its release, the movie received mixed reviews.

The movie was nominated for a few awards, including an Oscar for Best Cinematography.

The movie grossed 7 million dollars against a budget of 1.2 million.

The movie differs a lot from the book, one thing being Guy was turned into a good character, who doesn't k1ll Bruno's father!

You can watch the full movie for free, if you follow this link :

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9i36p4

Rating : Worth a watch !