Strangers on a Train (1951)dir. by Alfred Hitchcock
oof... Not a good starting point to this marathon. I definitely started this film excited to see not only my first Hitchcock movie, but how its premise would play out. I loved the opening 5 minutes or so, showing each man barreling towards their encounter, then revealing both at the same time. It put me at ease to not worry about any absolutism, given both were obviously equally valued by the filmmakers. This excitement lasted a good while, occasionally dipping, but always remaining sound enough to hold my anticipation. I didn't love some of the writing, the decisions made by Bruno weren't advisable, and I couldn't have cared less for Guy, but I still felt the film had promise. Then the movie picked up in a single shot;
while entering Bruno's house, and presumably planning to kill Bruno's father, Guy spots a demonically photographed hound atop the stairs. It perfectly captured the themes I wanted the film to explore, a good man confronting the necessity of malicious action in order to resolve the unrequited conflict he had been put into. And in a flick of a light switch the film lost all of that. If that weren't disappointing enough (disappointment, not something I typically factor into my opinion consciously), the film's resulting final third (and especially its final scene) were painfully mechanical.
"In its first moments, Strangers on a Train hints at a theme of fatalism it never manages to fulfill. Two men walk briskly towards one and other, preordained to collide, their fated meeting accompanied by the tracks of a train as if to indicate that something dangerous were about to begin. Instead, Strangers on a Train amounts to a slow realization of its supremely ordinary assembly. Just another american ride, safely passing through the potentials of a darker world."
"[Guy] is the prototypical American man as often found in pre-1970 Hollywood. Though, in this case, our default hero is desperately lacking the charisma of his peers... Guy Haines doesn't so much find himself tangled in a turmoil of his own making, as he is assaulted into a tough (but ultimately inconsequential) situation... I imagine I was supposed to empathize with him, just being a good guy dealt a bad hand, but his lack of complexity instead detached me from his perspective. Both he and his wife are unnecessarily glamorous given their circumstance, more concerned with being agreeable characters than interesting ones."
"In contrast, Robert Walker as Bruno (the second stranger) takes advantage of his obligatory villainy to present a compelling, unique, and entertaining element to the film. The character effortlessly glides between ominous, morbidly idiosyncratic, and formidably treacherous throughout the film, exclusively providing any tension the film manages to incite... Walker gives a great performance, to a film largely undeserving of his contributions."
"What began as a thrilling concept, and a naturally resulting narrative eventually gave way to an entirely artificial third act centered around a (rather conventionally set) tennis match. And when I thought the abhorrently apparent mechanics of its conclusion weren't tiring enough (including several inserts of "reaching for object" to enhance tension), the unbelievable final minutes of the film had me completely disconnected. Any potential the film had flew out the window with a laughably designed climax that would have been better suited to end a screwball comedy."
"...like the voyeuristic roller coaster it is, Strangers on a Train's passengers remain wholly intact. Save, of course, for the deserving ex-wife and the mentally challenged man; but they were mean to the protagonist, so it's all okay."
Full Leterboxd Review
http://letterboxd.com/jmbossy/film/strangers-on-a-train/So yeah. I do plan on continuing the marathon despite this unexpected hurdle. But I will say that I did enjoy some technical elements of Hitchcock's, particularly his framing, I only hope he has a more functional script to realize going forward. Otherwise I don't have much else to say about Strangers on a Train. I hear Fincher might remake it, and he is my favourite director, so I am obligated to think he might be able to make something thrilling out of the source material. But (not to be particularly cruel) it would be hard not to improve upon this movie with a modern consideration.