Strangers on a Train

Pros: Robert Walker, story, cinematography, direction, supporting cast

Cons: Needs to be better recognized as the great film it is

Strangers on a Train (1951) This is an interesting movie from Alfred Hitchcock, who started his directorial career in England and worked quite a few years for British International Pictures before being discovered by ...

Pros: Robert Walker's brilliant portrayal
Cons: somewhat flat acting by supporting cast

In one of his most suspenseful and riveting films, Alfred Hitchcock presents the tale of two men thrown together in a desperate struggle. One is a famous tennis player trapped in a bad marriage and the other is a rich young psychopath, his life tortured...

Pros: Robert Walker, direction, cinematography
Cons: There are quite a few flaws

When the 1940s were coming to an end, Alfred Hitchcock had found himself in a bit of a hole. After having directed the successful romantic thriller, Notorious, Hitchcock was having a difficult time living up to the expectations that were being...

Pros: Robert Walker's performance. A Hitchcock classic
Cons: Other actors not up to par

You hate somebody for messing up your life. You know your life would be better if they were dead. But how can you get away with this? Easy, get someone else who has no connection with this person to do this. But who? Find someone who has to get rid...

Pros: Robert Walker and the Hitchcock touch
Cons: Some lapses of logic

The 1950s were a great decade for Alfred Hitchcock. Hitch made such great films as "Rear Window" "Vertigo" and "North by Northwest", as well as some lesser but still good films like "The Trouble with Harry" and "To Catch a Thief". "Strangers on a...

Pros: Fascinating character study
Cons: Czendzi Ormande doesn't get enough credit for writing the screenplay.

In my opinion, this movie is one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest works. Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, Hitchcock has taken her story and turned it into one of the greatest thrillers of his career. This is an early film, made in 1951, and in black...

Pros: Robert Walker, direction, creepy aspects of the plot.
Cons: May be too intense for some, even for a 50's film.

Alfred Hitchcock has made some pretty effective thrillers in his day -- some of them are quite creepy and twisted, even for films made in the 1950’s, as was the case for Rear Window, Vertigo and The Wrong Man. Many elements of these films are not...

Pros: beautiful character work, great insight into the human soul
Cons: sometimes a bit slow, some of the acting is questionable

When someone mentions the name Alfred Hitchcock, what usually comes to people's minds is a fairly overweight man who made some movies that a lot of people really liked, usually in the thriller and horror genre.[1] He has been lauded by...

Pros: It's Hitchcock! Suspense, great acting, and everything else!
Cons: Not as twisty as some of his other films (is that a con?)

When you get on a train or a plane do you chat with the person near you? Maybe you do or maybe you bury your nose in a book. And what happens if the person starts talking to you? You’re probably polite, but a little standoffish. And what would you think...

Pros: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, special effects
Cons: musical score

We have all had someone in our lives that we have wanted ‘disposed of’, right? Nearly every human being has experienced a moment in which their emotions have overrun their sense reason and logic and, in a fit of anger, claim that they want to ‘strangle’ ...

Pros: suspenseful, inventive, and haunting
Cons: A couple of the performances are weak; so is the climax

Hitchcock's favorite movie that he ever made was Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Most people regard Vertigo (1958) as his best film, or perhaps North by Northwest (1959) or Rear Window (1954). Some have a soft spot for Psycho (1960) or The Birds (1963), two of ...

Pros: Hitchcock first, Robert Walker right behind
Cons: I'm not thrilled by tennis.

OK, think about it for a while. I have other things I want to tell you about first anyhow. The novel was by Patricia Highsmith, and Alfred snuck the movie rights without making a ripple. Buying anonymously, he got the rights to this film for a mere...

Pros: direction, suspense, characters, finale, cast
Cons: elderly women stereotypes

Along with Rebecca, Strangers on a Train is perhaps the greatest film in the career of director Alfred Hitchcock. An extraordinarily tense film, the suspense is slowly ratcheted up from the innocuous beginnings of a chance meeting...

Pros: Robert Walker, frank treatment of homosexuality, suspense, technical cleverness
Cons: Bland secondary characters, Farley Granger

"Excuse me, but aren't you Guy Haines?"

Those are the first words of the film, uttered by
dandified mama's boy Bruno Antony (Robert
Walker.) He flirtatiously bumps into the leg of Guy
Haines (Farley Granger,)...

Pros: Enormously taut direction, superb ensemble, never less than rivetingly suspenseful.
Cons: Nuances in the storyline may pressure you to revisit this one again and again. But hey, what's so bad about that?

By Max Scheinin.

You never need an excuse to revisit Strangers on a Train -- it's a rivetingly suspenseful film that never runs out steam and livens up even the slowest of days -- but right about (lemme check my watch) -- yep, now -- you have...