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Strangers on a Train
USA 1951
produced by Warner Brothers
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
starring Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G.Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock, Kasey Rogers, Marion Lorne, Jonathan Hale, Howard St. John, John Brown, Norma Varden, Robert Gist
based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, adaptation by Whitfield Cook, screenplay by Raymond Chandler, Czenzi Ormonde, music by Dimitri Tiomkin
review by Dale Pierce
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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The late Alfred Hitchcock might not have been a horror film director in the
truest sense of the word, but he was certainly one of the greatest masters of
suspense in the history of film. In this vehicle, he proved himself once
more, leaving behind a great film that is still considered a classic decades
after his death.
A tennis pro (Farley Granger) meets a psychopath (Robert Walker) on a train where they jokingly
agree to exchange murders, the idea being strangers with no connetcion to each
other could swap victims or kill each other's desired targets without any
connection being made. The only problem is Bruno, played to the hilt by
Walker, takes the bargain seriously. He does murder for the tennis pro and
ends up leaving him as a suspect in the case, which is only the beginning
of the story. Things get even more complex when the disgruntled Bruno finds
out his new associate is not only horrified about what has happened, but will
not live up to his end of the bargain and kill his mother for him.
One of the most subtle psychos in screen villainry, Bruno's great cinema
moment comes as, while walking at a carnival, he casually pops a child's
ballon out of meanness with his cigarette. This scene has been reshown in
numerous documentaries on Hitchcock and horror films, only outdone perhaps by
scenes from Psycho as far as repetition is concerned. It is a definitive
hitchcockian moment, just like the shadowy Mother emerging beyond
the shower curtain.
As with Shadow Of A Doubt, North By Northwest
and other
movies where his villains are to die, Hitchcock gives Bruno a dynamic sendoff,
on a merry-go-round of all things.
A classic psychotic thriller in every sense of the word.
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review © by Dale Pierce
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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