Strangers on a Train

A black comedy, really, based on Patricia Highsmith's source novel - remains a cracking piece of entertainment. It is shot with all his usual invention and style, and a couple of scenes rank among the director's most visually memorable.

Strangers on a Train ranks at the top of Hitchcock's most accomplished works, a masterpiece that is so carefully constructed and its characters so well developed that the viewer is quickly intimate and comfortable with the story long before Bruno turns killer.

Given a good basis for a thriller in the Patricia Highsmith novel [script adaption by Whitfield Cook] and a first-rate script, Hitchcock embroiders the plot into a gripping, palm-sweating piece of suspense.

Perhaps Strangers on a Train still hasn't yielded all its secrets.

Strangers on a Train, though undoubtedly effective as a classic Hitchcock thriller, is also nothing more complicated than one elongated gay cruise joke-cum-horror story.

Magnificent absurdist crime drama from the master of suspense.

Mr. Hitchcock again is tossing a crazy murder story in the air and trying to con us into thinking that it will stand up without support.

Strangers On A Train is actually quite familiar on Hitchcock's world, a quirky brutal era that breathes for inanity. Strangers On A Train Hitchcock's another perfect plan for a perfect crime is wisely not a gut wrenching bloodbath but a poised and reserved act of trauma. And just like its opening sequence, Hitchcock has you hooked from the first footage and similar to it, the storytelling is fluent and gripping. The conversations are pragmatic and are brimmed with humor and ironic drama that is imputed smoothly without any compromise on the track. The concept is very amusing and yet convincing through brilliant execution, and has the potential to boost off the film for the entire feature. Hitchcock uses the props and creates an arc out of them like a character where the entire feature ends up hanging on it. Wisely, the makers aren't confined on delivering the rudimentary process of investigation along with the usual cat and mouse chase. Instead, the screenplay is quite fast paced and is always ready to evolve with a smarter script that keeps the audience on the brisk, with its gritty ideology and metaphorical cinematography that helps view this tale with a more brighter and clearer lens. The performance isn't extraordinary or eye popping but as far as cynicism is concerned Walker's body language does give you the chills. And on the other hand the victim of the film, Granger unfortunately doesn't have much range to factor in effectively especially since his character is basically a scaredy cat for the most part of it. This meticulous novel is adapted with smart editing and crispy cinematic sequences bubbled up (especially the followed up or the aftermath of the crime that is wound up in one big scene) from it that remains the highlight of it and stays with you even after you leave the screen. Strangers On A Train is actually quite familiar on Hitchcock's world, a quirky brutal era that breathes for inanity.

A very solid and intriguing suspense, 'Strangers on a Train' it's one of Hitchcock's best and certainly will give you nightmares about merry-go-rounds.

The title sets the stage for this, another twisty, **** pickle. On a long rail commute into the city, two men make small talk and casually hatch a hypothetical double-murder plot. At least, one thinks it’s just speculation, laughing off the whole conversation and disembarking without a second thought. The other sees it more like permission and sets to holding up his end of the bargain. Both have human obstacles in their lives, people that would serve them much better in the morgue, so why not scratch each other’s back? Why not exchange that messy work? The more reluctant conspirator is a tennis hotshot (Farley Granger, in an appropriately stiff, polite performance), while the other’s a roguish cad (Robert Walker, who plays his role like a barely-closeted queen), quite accustomed to pushing and pestering until he gets his way. As soon as he’s shoveled dirt over his new buddy’s estranged wife, Walker makes a big nuisance of himself, regularly interrupting and imposing upon the befuddled athlete’s private life. It’s tough not to hold our breath each time this irritating busybody inserts himself on the scene, smiling proudly as his flustered cohort tries to explain his presence away. Hitchcock plays that suspense in his typical fashion, cranking up the heat until things reach an unbearable boil at the beginning of the third act. There’s a great back-and-forth sequence here, both men hurrying to finish an obligation before dark, that merits a spot on the director’s extended highlight reel. Strangers on a Train has its share of moments where Lord Alfred overplays his hand, pursuing daring visuals at the expense of good mechanics, but not here. This one’s a masterful display of tension, delivered with the director’s customary panache. While the suspense works, the noir-influenced cinematography is delicious and the story’s grim novelty is appreciable, this film’s reliance upon coincidence and bad judgment quickly wears thin and things go completely off the rails at the end. There, everything suddenly explodes in a loud cacophony that’s so contrived, I couldn’t help laughing. C’mon, Alfred, surely you can do better than that!

For me this was just okay Hitchcock I never empathized with any character, and the plot of switching murders is too ludicrous to buy. And the pace was kinda draggy. But, I do give props the strong performers and Hitchcock's bravura carousel ending.

I thought it was a little slow paced at times and while the plot was original, It didn't really capture me as I thought it would. I never felt that the main character was in a dire situation and was a little disappointed that they swayed from how the book originally was as I felt that would have made for a better plot.