STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
Strange thing about this trip. So much occurs in pairs. Tennis star Guy (Farley Granger) hates his unfaithful wife. Mysterious Bruno (Robert Walker) hates his father. How perfect for a playful proposal: I'll kill yours, you kill mine. Now look at how Alfred Hitchcock reinforces the duality of human nature. The more you watch, the more you'll see. "Isn't it a fascinating design?"; the Master of Suspense often asked. Actually, it's doubly fascinating. For Hitchcock left behind two versions of Strangers on a Train. The original version (SIDE A) is an all-time thriller classic. A recently found longer pre-release British print (SIDE B) offers "a startling amplification of Bruno's flamboyance, his homoerotic attraction to Guy and his psychotic personality"; (Bill Desowitz, Film Comment). The laying bare of Bruno's hidden nature, along with the great set pieces (head-turning tennis match, disintegrating carousel) and suspense as only Hitchcock can deliver, makes for a first-class trip.