Garp
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Catching up on a few reviews:
Week 36: 'Strangers on a Train' [1950]
Source: Amazon Video [streaming]
During the course of this yearlong project, I keep coming across films that are so good that I find it difficult to believe I've never seen them before. Add 'Strangers on a Train' to that list.
As the title suggests, two strangers - Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) - meet on a train. Guy is an up-and-coming tennis player; Bruno is an overly friendly playboy type. Bruno has a proposition to get them both out of unhappy relationships - swap murders. Bruno will kill Guy's wife, who is pregnant with another man's child yet refusing a divorce, while Guy kills Bruno's father. The perfect crime! When Bruno follows through with his half of the plan, Guy finds himself unwittingly embroiled in the insane scheme.
Based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, the plot is a simple one, without the usual convoluted Hitchcockian twists and red herrings. Familiar faces crop up once more - Farley Granger (less effective, I thought, than in 'Rope'), Leo G Carroll and, in a more substantive role, Hitchcock's daughter Patricia. The film, though, belongs to Robert Walker who stands shoulder to shoulder with Anthony Perkins as a great Hitchcock villain. Menacing, charming, stoic, unhinged - he is perfect in each scene, subtle and understated when it would have been so easy to overact.
There are so many great flourishes in direction that I'll only highlight the most obvious. We are introduced to the main characters by only their footwear and gait; when their shoes accidentally touch on the train, the story begins. Bruno follows his victim into the Tunnel of Love. There is a scream - the murder? No, it's a scream of laughter, as she exits with her two beaus, Bruno still drifting behind them. The murder (a strangulation) shown in the reflection of the victim's glasses. The tennis match, in which heads in the crowd bob back-and-forth with the play - all except one head. Bruno Anthony, staring intently at his would-be partner, Guy Haines.
There is a preview version (AKA the British version) included on the DVD which supposedly highlights the homoerotic nature of the main characters' relationship, which I have yet to see. I watched instead the HD version on Amazon Prime, and it looked great. Highly recommended for those who have yet to enjoy this excellent film.
Week 36: 'Strangers on a Train' [1950]
Source: Amazon Video [streaming]
During the course of this yearlong project, I keep coming across films that are so good that I find it difficult to believe I've never seen them before. Add 'Strangers on a Train' to that list.
As the title suggests, two strangers - Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) - meet on a train. Guy is an up-and-coming tennis player; Bruno is an overly friendly playboy type. Bruno has a proposition to get them both out of unhappy relationships - swap murders. Bruno will kill Guy's wife, who is pregnant with another man's child yet refusing a divorce, while Guy kills Bruno's father. The perfect crime! When Bruno follows through with his half of the plan, Guy finds himself unwittingly embroiled in the insane scheme.
Based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, the plot is a simple one, without the usual convoluted Hitchcockian twists and red herrings. Familiar faces crop up once more - Farley Granger (less effective, I thought, than in 'Rope'), Leo G Carroll and, in a more substantive role, Hitchcock's daughter Patricia. The film, though, belongs to Robert Walker who stands shoulder to shoulder with Anthony Perkins as a great Hitchcock villain. Menacing, charming, stoic, unhinged - he is perfect in each scene, subtle and understated when it would have been so easy to overact.
There are so many great flourishes in direction that I'll only highlight the most obvious. We are introduced to the main characters by only their footwear and gait; when their shoes accidentally touch on the train, the story begins. Bruno follows his victim into the Tunnel of Love. There is a scream - the murder? No, it's a scream of laughter, as she exits with her two beaus, Bruno still drifting behind them. The murder (a strangulation) shown in the reflection of the victim's glasses. The tennis match, in which heads in the crowd bob back-and-forth with the play - all except one head. Bruno Anthony, staring intently at his would-be partner, Guy Haines.
There is a preview version (AKA the British version) included on the DVD which supposedly highlights the homoerotic nature of the main characters' relationship, which I have yet to see. I watched instead the HD version on Amazon Prime, and it looked great. Highly recommended for those who have yet to enjoy this excellent film.