This is one of my favorite Hitchcock movies – it has a fantastic premise and cast, and also one of his very best murder scenes (and that's saying something!) Hitchcock uses great economy in the first half of the film; right out of the chute two strangers meet on a train, and one proposes the 'perfect murder', one in which there is no apparent motive because the two simply 'criss cross' murders for each other.
Robert Walker is absolutely perfect as the sociopath who proposes this scheme to the straight-laced tennis player, played well by Farley Granger. He wants his overbearing father out of the picture, and knows that Granger wants a divorce from his wife, having done his homework. Granger politely declines, and while his motivation increases when his adulterous wife (Laura Elliot) manipulatively tells him she no longer wants to split from him in the next scene, he still wants no part of murder. However, in the very next scene Walker goes forward with his 'end of the bargain' anyway, stalking Elliot at a carnival in an outstanding sequence. She's aware of him staring at her and even flirts with him a little bit, and as he follows her through the Tunnel of Love out to 'Magic Isle' it's seriously spine-tingling. Hitchcock shows her getting strangled in a reflection from her glasses which have fallen to the ground. These first few scenes, from the train to Magic Isle, are a masterpiece.
Granger is of course horrified to hear about this, and while he intends to move on to woman he's already been seeing (Ruth Roman), he doesn't intend on committing a murder he never agreed to. Walker begins stalking him and putting pressure on him, and there are fantastic scenes at the Jefferson Memorial (him staring down a distance and high up on the stairs), as well as at a tennis match (the crowd following a volley, turning their heads back and forth; Walker staring straight ahead at Granger).
It is true that the film slows down slightly in the second half, but it's by no means 'slow' – there are several other great scenes, we feel real tension as Granger finds himself mired in a creepy lunatic's fantasy come to life (channeling Hitchcock's 'wrong man' theme), and it has a thrilling climax, but I won't spoil it any further. I have to say I loved the spunky character played by Patricia Hitchcock, the director's daughter, and it's a shame she didn't get more work as an actor. It's also a shame that Robert Walker died at age 32, shortly after the film's release. He certainly lives on in this role, and this film more than stands the test of time. Excellent.
Robert Walker is absolutely perfect as the sociopath who proposes this scheme to the straight-laced tennis player, played well by Farley Granger. He wants his overbearing father out of the picture, and knows that Granger wants a divorce from his wife, having done his homework. Granger politely declines, and while his motivation increases when his adulterous wife (Laura Elliot) manipulatively tells him she no longer wants to split from him in the next scene, he still wants no part of murder. However, in the very next scene Walker goes forward with his 'end of the bargain' anyway, stalking Elliot at a carnival in an outstanding sequence. She's aware of him staring at her and even flirts with him a little bit, and as he follows her through the Tunnel of Love out to 'Magic Isle' it's seriously spine-tingling. Hitchcock shows her getting strangled in a reflection from her glasses which have fallen to the ground. These first few scenes, from the train to Magic Isle, are a masterpiece.
Granger is of course horrified to hear about this, and while he intends to move on to woman he's already been seeing (Ruth Roman), he doesn't intend on committing a murder he never agreed to. Walker begins stalking him and putting pressure on him, and there are fantastic scenes at the Jefferson Memorial (him staring down a distance and high up on the stairs), as well as at a tennis match (the crowd following a volley, turning their heads back and forth; Walker staring straight ahead at Granger).
It is true that the film slows down slightly in the second half, but it's by no means 'slow' – there are several other great scenes, we feel real tension as Granger finds himself mired in a creepy lunatic's fantasy come to life (channeling Hitchcock's 'wrong man' theme), and it has a thrilling climax, but I won't spoil it any further. I have to say I loved the spunky character played by Patricia Hitchcock, the director's daughter, and it's a shame she didn't get more work as an actor. It's also a shame that Robert Walker died at age 32, shortly after the film's release. He certainly lives on in this role, and this film more than stands the test of time. Excellent.