X
- 1951
- Approved
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 41 m
- 1951
- Approved
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 41 m
Summary A psychotic socialite attempts to force a professional tennis star to prove a theory that two complete strangers can get away with murder.
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
- 1951
- Approved
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 41 m
- 1951
- Approved
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 41 m
Strangers on a Train
8.3
Where to Watch
Summary A psychotic socialite attempts to force a professional tennis star to prove a theory that two complete strangers can get away with murder.
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
88
93% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
7% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
88
93% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
7% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
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.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 81 User Ratings
8.3
89% Positive
72 Ratings
72 Ratings
10% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
1% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 81 User Ratings
8.3
89% Positive
72 Ratings
72 Ratings
10% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
1% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Super smart, witty, suspenseful, and gorgeous on the eyes, 'Strangers on a Train' masterfully exploits insanity and human's difficulties in decision making to deliver a knock-out thriller plot that brilliantly starts, builds, and ends. It stands tall as one of Hitchcock's best efforts as a director and one of the best films from the 1950's.
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Most of the scenes are great and with well written characters, especially Robert Walker as Bruno Anthony is perfect. But some of the scenes are looking outdated.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Pour un film de Hitchcock, le fameux Maître... de l'ennui, réalisateur-tortue déjà surcoté à cette époque et davantage encore par la suite, L'Inconnu du Nord-Express reste à peu près regardable selon bien sûr la tolérance du moment du spectateur.
Il faut dire que contrairement à ses autres "oeuvres", le film démarre assez prestement (au lieu de caler habituellement comme une vieille poubelle) grâce à l'idée évidemment brillante (que l'on doit au roman de Patricia Highsmith) de l'échange des meurtres. Mais le film connaît ici et là quelques lenteurs dont le Maître est si friand ainsi que les séquences superflues syndicales.
On reconnaît également les tics et les tocs du réalisateur qui passent davantage pour un maniérisme un brin pédant que pour des éclairs de génie, contrairement à ce que l'on veut nous faire croire. Sa réalisation reste en tout cas d'un bon niveau et non cloîtrée dans le studio aux projos de 3000W, ce qui est à la fois surprenant et très appréciable de sa part.
Nous tiquons néanmoins de temps à autre devant quelques invraisemblances ("pourquoi il me regarde comme ça ? c'est lui l'assassin !" ou "j'ai déjà vu ce type-là la semaine dernière, c'est donc lui l'assassin !" ou bien "il joue à étrangler Mamie (?!) c'est donc lui l'assassin !"... et ainsi de suite... sans compter bien entendu le final bien ridicule, complètement hystérique sur le manège... Pour autant, Hitchcock ne parvient pas à nous faire roupiller (à son grand dam ou à son insu sans doute) et ce polar arrive à aiguiser la curiosité grâce au jeu assez bien défini du personnage machiavélique, vindicatif et obsessionnel qui donne un bon air de thriller à ce polar. Une demi-mauvaise surprise donc pour un Hitchcock à peu près comestible.
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Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
National Board of Review, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Online Film & Television Association
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
