Strangers on a Train 1951
I was given a Screen Pass by someone with a lot of Hitchcock movies, so I wanted to pick one of his lesser known movies that still gets good reviews, picking this one. Once I started watching it I realized I had seen this before, but I didn’t remember how it turned out. Hitchcock movies can get a little too cute for their own good sometimes, and Strangers on a Train is like that. There is a good concept, a few twists, and a delightfully nefarious villain, but not much real pathos and the suspense is mostly based too heavily on gimmicks. It is hard to do this kind of movie because the right thing to do is go to the police immediately and hope that the truth sets you free, so Hitchock has to set up a lot of things that make going to the police seem impossible. Robert Walker as the crazy guy is fun to watch, an early example of the crazed fan maybe, who ends up making life miserable for his idol. Farley Granger is good as the idol, who makes bad decisions that only get him in deeper. But it all feels a little too cute, plus the ending is overly happy, which I will go over in a spoiler. It is still fun to watch, but it is fluff.
Written: 14 Jul 2021
Owned on: Digital