if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

After four box-office failures and with the dawn of a new decade, there must have been some pressure on Hitchcock to deliver a hit again. That he did, and then some with this tour-de-force which in fact set the standard for the rest of the decade where he consistently delivered great movies and consolidated his reputation as the Master of Suspense.It helps of course when the source material is good, this time from a writer of the calibre of Patricia Highsmith and while Raymond Chandler may not have contributed too much for his co-screenplay credit, this movie has a particular drive and energy which had certainly been lacking in his recent movies. It may have lacked A-list acting talent but Farley Granger and in particular Robert Walker step up admirably with memorable performances so good you can't imagine anyone else in their places.The idea of twin murders is a delicious one which holds the movie together all the way through particularly after Walker's Bruno casts the first stone with the murder of Granger's loose, grasping but hardly deserving wife. The extended scene of his stalking her at a night-time fun fair culminating in a brilliantly rendered strangulation reflected in the victim's own detached spectacles is just one of many magisterial flourishes from the Master but there's much more such as the shot of Bruno gazing single-mindedly at Granger's Guy Haines playing a tennis match while everyone else is following the ball going back and forth over the net, the later cross-cutting of Bruno striving to retrieve Guy's lighter which he's accidentally dropped down a drain en-route to planting it at the murder scene to frame him contrasted with Guy frantically trying to win his tennis match and of course the suitably dramatic climax aboard (and under!) a crazily out of control merry-go-round.As stated, Walker is superb as the suave but deranged Bruno, with his flamboyantly monogrammed tie-pin and floral dressing gown bringing a homo-erotic edge to proceedings while Granger is almost as good as the innocent caught up in his nemesis's machinations and yet bearing guilt for getting what in his secret heart he really wanted. There's solid support too from Ruth Roman as Haines' new love, the ever-dependable Leo G Carroll as her senator father and perhaps surprisingly Hitchcock's own daughter as Roman's younger sister who bears a striking resemblance to Haines' bespectacled doomed wife.From the introductory criss-crossing of feet and railway lines to that mad smash-up finish at the carnival this is the ultimate cinematic white-knuckle ride.

As tennis player Guy Haines is travelling on a train he is approached by Bruno Antony; he'd rather just read his paper but Bruno is persistent. Eventually Bruno brings the subject to murder, all in a rather theoretical way. He talks of a way to commit the 'perfect murder'… for example if Guy wanted rid of his estranged wife so he could marry his new love Bruno could commit the murder and then Guy could kill Bruno's domineering father; neither would have a motive for the killing they did and each could have a cast iron alibi for the killing they do have a motive for. As they part Guy thinks nothing more of the conversation but Bruno thinks they have agreed to a plan.Guy gets off the train in his old home town and goes to see his ex-wife, Miriam, to say that he accepts her request for a divorce… she says she will need money for a lawyer but when he hands over some cash she says she has no intention of getting divorced; Guy is on his way up and she expects him to take her with her. Afterwards he calls his girlfriend, Anne, and says that he could happily strangle his ex. Soon afterwards Bruno murders Miriam at a fun park then expects Guy to fulfil his part of the deal. Guy is horrified but as Bruno states the police won't be suspecting him so if Guy goes to see them it will just draw suspicion to himself. Since Guy hadn't taken the plan seriously his alibi is distinctly thin. Will Guy go through with his part of the 'deal' and what will Bruno do if he doesn't?This Hitchcock thriller is rightly considered a classic to such an extent that any story that employs the idea of swapping murders is almost duty bound to mention this film. The central conceit is a little far-fetched but not overly so; especially given that Bruno is clearly bordering on psychotic. The cast does a great job; Robert Walker is particularly impressive as Bruno; making him both charming and believably dangerous. There are also fine performances from Farley Granger as Guy, Ruth Roman as Anne and Patricia Hitchcock, who is a lot of fun as Anne's younger sister Barbera. The tension builds nicely throughout the film all leading to an exciting finale on a fun park merry-go-round. As well as plenty of tension there is a good touch of slightly dark humour; Bruno bursting a child's balloon and Barbara's fascination with murder. Overall I'd recommend this for all fans of classic thrillers and say it was a must see for fans of Hitchcock.

There are intellectual thrillers and then there are Alfred Hitchcock's intellectual thrillers! Being the guy that invented the entire genre, the famous director tries and produces one of his best works in a intertwined story about a perfect murder scheme created by the random meeting in a train. Basic plot so simple that it's genius will go on to produce some of the genre's best concepts and a dramatic finale that will justify the director's reputation for making immaculate crime stories for the big screen. „Strangers on a train" is a great movie in any era, a perfect crime story that stood the test of time and a homework for the generations of movie creators that followed it.

The basic conceit of "Strangers on a Train" is simple and clever. Writing a script to make it believable, though, is not so simple. That the writers and the director worked out all the obstacles to make it not only believable, but a strong story, is a real achievement. That achievement is aided by the brilliant performance by Robert Walker as Bruno Antony--a quirky, insinuating man with strange ideas and unrefined social skills.When Bruno meets Guy Haines (Farley Granger) by chance on a train, the wheels are set in motion for an ingenious crime plot in which one of them is the unwitting accomplice of the other. Director Hitchcock is certainly in his element with a lead character who feels like he has lost control of his life. The black and white cinematography only serves to emphasize the shadows in which much of the action takes place. Kudos to the beautiful Ruth Roman as Guy's questioning girlfriend Anne Morton, Marion Lorne as Guy's estranged wife Miriam, and especially Patricia Hitchcock as Anne's younger sister Barbara, who provides much of the humor, charm and cleverness of the story.This is not a whodunnit. We know who did it. But Hitchcock takes us on a ride through the murky waters of a dark personality, tightening the screws of intrigue until only one unthinkable outcome seems possible. Who would not want to ride his roller-coaster of suspense?