Strangers on a Train (1951)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Patricia Hitchcock, Leo G. Carroll, Laura Elliott, Howard St. John, Robert Gist, Marion Lorne, John Brown, John Doucette. [PG]

Tennis star Granger makes the acquaintance of creepily obsequious psychopath Walker on a train ride, where Walker talks about what he has decided is the perfect murder scheme—“swapping” murders with a complete stranger, eliminating the problem of foolproof alibis and the suspicion of motive. Granger humors him, unaware that Walker takes it as a struck deal—Granger’s wife for Walker’s father. Exemplary thriller achieves what the best of the breed do: build and maintain suspense all the way to the end, and encourage the viewer to put themselves in the shoes of the characters and imagine what they would do to get out of one anxious predicament after another. Effete, insinuating and disturbing, Walker is incredible in his last completed film role (he died less than two months after the film’s release); other highlights include Walker stalking his prey in an amusement park, the subtext of the leads’ initial meeting aboard the train, the wild carousel finale, and the famous shot of the lone tennis spectator disinterested in the court play. Based on the Patricia Highsmith story (her first published novel).

94/100