Strangers on a Train

Two men on a train strike up a conversation. Tennis player Guy is unhappily married to an unfaithful wife but is trapped in the marriage. The other man, Bruno, wants his father dead so he can collect his inheritance, and proposes the perfect plan: They both have someone they want to get rid of, but if they swap victims, there will be no clear motive for the murders. Guy does not accept the deal, but Bruno carries out his part of it on his own initiative, before insisting that Guy owes him a murder.

Strangers on a Train is based on Patricia Highsmith’s first novel, and its pitch-black premise suits director Alfred Hitchcock – “the Master of Suspense” – perfectly. This is a magnificently effective and entertaining thriller that includes numerous examples of Hitchcock’s masterful instincts for visual storytelling, and not least his ability to create hair-raising tension. As the diabolical Bruno, Robert Walker creates one of film history’s most memorable villains.