tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post4962371481022428096..comments2024-03-29T04:57:26.162-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: CULT MOVIE REVIEW: Strangers on a Train (1951)John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-16395670234226265712008-08-25T08:00:00.000-04:002008-08-25T08:00:00.000-04:00Hey Bobby,Thanks for writing, Bobby! Great to hear...Hey Bobby,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for writing, Bobby! Great to hear from you.<BR/><BR/>I enjoyed reading your perspective on the film.<BR/><BR/>I think I value Strangers on a Train a little more highly in the Hitchcock canon than you do. I would probably put it in the top tier of his thrillers.<BR/><BR/>The movie is about one thing (sexual tension between men, just like Highsmith's other novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley) beneath the surface; while it can be enjoyed on a surface level as something else entirely -- simply the story of a man drawn into "murder" by a chance encounter with a stranger.<BR/><BR/>The obsession on feet (cottaging, or signals for sex), Walker's flamboyant performance, and all the sexual imagery (at the carnival, etc.) make this film actively "about" that love which dared not speak it's name openly in 1951. I don't know that I need the subtext any more over than this, really.<BR/><BR/>I also admire how the form of the film is like a tennis match; a back and forth, back and forth, between two evenly matched opponents. <BR/><BR/>These factors make it, as you said a great thriller, but I would also suggest, a bit more.<BR/><BR/>However, I must say that you and Tony (who commented to me last week about Rope...) have both made me want to go back and watch that film again.<BR/><BR/>I'm putting it in my Netflix queue as I type...<BR/><BR/>best,<BR/>JKMJohn Kenneth Muirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-74554172727469565452008-08-24T11:21:00.000-04:002008-08-24T11:21:00.000-04:00I love Strangers on a Train but I don't think it's...I love Strangers on a Train but I don't think it's a "good" Hitchcock film. Though it captures the thriller genre skillfully, it's missing that thing below the surface that makes the movie unsettling outside of the plot. The undercurrent of homosexuality (or at least altered relationship dynamics) is much stronger in something like Rope, which also starred Fraley Granger. <BR/><BR/>In terms of what you covered, John, Strangers on a Train is a great watch which allows the viewer to be "in on it" the whole time. This may be its greatest strength and the reason it works as a thriller: rather than using dramatic irony to create tension it leaves everybody including the audience helpless to stop the unfolding of the plot. And though it's fairly worthless to consider plot alternatives, I wonder if the film would have held a different place in the Hitchcock canon if the last thing we saw was Guy murdering Bruno's father--the criss-crossing paths finally coming back together. But I'm no Hitchcock and can't rewrite history, so it's not really worth dwelling on.<BR/><BR/>Strangers on a Train is an example of a well made film from a director who makes better than "well made" films. Regardless, it's still fun to watch and nerve-racking to this day.Bobbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01387087439661411736noreply@blogger.com