Strangers on a Train

“One of Hitchcock's most fascinating films” (David Thomson), Strangers on a Train is a nifty, nasty noir thriller with a great hardboiled pedigree: it’s based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith and has a screenplay co-credited to Raymond Chandler. Unhappily married tennis star Guy (Farley Granger) meets complete stranger Bruno (Robert Walker) on a train trip, and the two jokingly agree to a murder pact whereby Bruno will slay Guy's wife in return for Guy killing Bruno's hated father. When psychotic Bruno then proceeds to fulfil his end of the mock bargain, he expects the horrified Guy to do the same — and threatens to frame him for the murder already committed if Guy doesn't comply. Robert Walker's extraordinary performance as the diabolical Bruno is one of the most celebrated in the Hitchcock canon; Strangers on a Train also features a famed merry-go-round climax, and Oscar-nominated cinematography by Hitchcock regular Robert Burks. “Hitchcock’s bizarre, malicious comedy ... It’s intensely enjoyable — in some ways the best of Hitchcock's American films ... with some of the best dialogue that ever graced a thriller” (Pauline Kael). B&W, 35mm. 101 mins.