8/10
Very good Hitch film about a tennis champion who becomes involved with psychopath in exchange killings
24 December 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Top-notch Hitch film dealing with a girl in love with young America's idol , a Tennis star named Guy Haines who becomes involved with a good-looking stranger , Bruno Anthony, in search of sensation that's how it all began..! Warner Bros bring a pounding new tempo to motion picture entertainment. A psychotic socialite (Robert Walker as unforgettable psycho) confronts a pro tennis star (Farley Granger) with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement . Guy Haines meets a stranger on the Washington-to-New York train who offers to exchange murders. The stranger will kill Guy's estranged wife if Guy will murder Bruno's hated father. Guy doesn't take Bruno seriously until his spouse , Miriam (Laura Elliott), is found killed in an amusement park . Guy becomes the chief suspect, which threatens his tennis career and his romantic involvement with a U. S. senator (Leo G. Carroll)'s daughter (Ruth Roman) .

Hitchcock first visited Hollywood in 1940, but was turned down by virtually all major motion picture studios because they thought he could not make a "Hollywood" picture. He was finally offered a seven-year directing contract by producer David O. Selznick. His first project was supposed to be a film about the Titanic, but Selznick scrapped the project because he "couldn't find a boat to sink." Selznick assigned Hitch to direct Rebeca (1940) instead, which later won the Best Picture Oscar . Later on , Hitchcock shot ¨Strangers on a train¨.

Tense/suspense/mystery abounds in this thriller from Hithcock who combines the elements of intrigue with romance, drama and action . Thrilling and interesting screenplay based on a Patricia Highsmith novel and co-scripted by novelist Raymond Chandler and uncredited the prestigious Ben Hecht . Robert Walker and Farley Granger give their finest acting as psychopath and tennis star respectively . Hitchock married Alma Reville , usually screenwriter ,and had one daughter, Patricia Hitchcock, who appeared in several of his movies: Stage fright (1950), and Psicosis (1960) and Strangers on the train where she plays splendidly the distrusted sister .Frequent collaborator the director of photography Robert Burks creates a stunning cinematography . Suspenseful and atmospheric original music by the classic Dimitri Tiomkin.

Hitchcock often used the ¨false guilty¨ or "wrong man" or "mistaken identity" theme in his movies Sabotage (1942), I confess (1953), Wrong man (1956), North by Northwest (1959), Frenesí (1972) and of course Stranger on a train . In a lot of his films -more noticeably in the early black and white American films-, he used to create more shadows on the walls to create suspense and tension . Hitch hated to shoot on location , he preferred to shoot at the studio where he could have full control of lighting and other factors. Rating : Above average , well worth watching . This good thriller by the master himself, who preys on the senses and keeps the suspense at feverish pitch . Worthwhile seeing thanks some Hitch's touches .
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