On a train, wealthy, neurotic Bruno Anthony recognises tennis player Guy Haines and strikes up a conversation. While using Guy's cigarette lighter, Bruno notices it is inscribed "From A to G," and guesses that "A" is Senator Morton's daughter Anne, whom Guy intends to marry after Miriam, his current wife, divorces him. Over lunch in his compartment, Bruno describes to Guy his hatred of his father, and suggests a plan for a perfect murder. He proposes that two strangers, who each want someone in their life killed, swap murders. In that way, each has murdered a perfect stranger and is unlikely to be apprehended. For example, Bruno says, he could kill Miriam, and Guy would then return the favor by killing Bruno's father. Believing Bruno to be a harmless crank, Guy agrees that the theory is viable and disembarks from the train at his home town of Metcalf, unaware that he has left his distinctive lighter in Bruno's compartment. In Metcalf, Guy proceeds to the music store where Miriam works. There, Miriam tells him that although she is pregnant with another man's baby, she has no intention of divorcing him. In full sight of the other employees, a furious Guy brutally shakes her, then calls Anne and, still angry, shrieks that he would like to strangle his wife. Meanwhile, Bruno, at his parents' home, overhears his father threaten to institutionalize him, and decides to put his plan into action immediately. Traveling to Metcalf one night, he follows Miriam and two boyfriends to an amusement park tunnel-of-love ride and strangles her on a nearby island. While Bruno is murdering Miriam, Guy is on the train to Washington, D.C. The only other passenger in his car is extremely drunk, but tells Guy his name is Prof. Collins. Later, outside of his residence, Guy encounters Bruno, who informs him of Miriam's murder and shows him her eyeglasses as proof of the deed. When a stunned Guy insists that he will turn Bruno over to the police, Bruno convinces him that the police will believe that he was involved and makes it clear that he expects Guy to complete his part of the "bargain." Guy flees from Bruno and is soon summoned by phone to Senator Morton's home, where Morton informs him of Miriam's death. Although Guy hopes that Collins will give him an alibi, Collins reports having no memory of his drunken evening. The police release Guy, but assign Hennessey, a police detective, to keep a constant watch on him. Although Guy tries to evade Bruno, Bruno sends Guy a map of his father's bedroom, a key to the house and a gun. When Guy continues to ignore him, Bruno manages to ingratiate himself with Guy's friends. Anne, who has become increasingly disturbed by Guy's strange behavior, then confronts him. Under her questioning, he admits that Bruno killed Miriam and tells her about their encounter on the train. A desperate Guy then telephones Bruno and tells him that he will kill his father that night. He evades the detective and uses the key to enter the Anthony house, intending to beg Antony to get help for Bruno. However, Bruno, suspecting Guy's motives, is waiting for him in his father's room. The following day, Anne tries to enlist the help of Bruno's doting, dotty mother, who insists that Bruno must be playing a practical joke. Before a tearful Anne leaves, Bruno informs her that Guy killed Miriam and offers as proof Guy's request that Bruno retrieve the lighter that he dropped at the scene of the crime. When Anne reports this to Guy, he realizes that Bruno intends to use his lighter to frame him for the murder. Guy is scheduled to play in a tennis tournament in Washington, D.C., but believing that Bruno will plant the lighter after dark, decides not to drop out. In order to reach Metcalf before Bruno, however, Guy must win the tournament in three sets. He wins the first two sets easily, but loses the third. Meanwhile, Bruno arrives in Metcalf and accidentally drops the lighter down a storm drain. While Bruno attempts to retrieve the lighter, Guy continues to play a determined game. After recovering the lighter, Bruno proceeds to the amusement park. Guy wins the final match, and while Barbara distracts Hennessey and his partner Hammond, Guy takes a waiting cab to the train. In Metcalf, the police, alerted by Hennessey, stake out the park. When the sun sets, Bruno joins the long line of people waiting for the tunnel-of-love boat to the island, but is recognized by the ride's operator.
Opening sequence In the opening sequence we see two separate cabs pull into the train station with their respective passengers. The camera is set at floor level, the audience follows the characters feet as they walk through the busy train station. We see two distinct pairs of shoes, the first is a flamboyant black and white pair with a pin stripped suit. The second is a modest black pair with a simple mismatched brown suit(assumed brown based on the tone only). These initial viewings of costumes tells the audience a considerable amount about these characters personalities. The footage switches back and forth between the two until we see two train tracks cross, this cross becomes a visual motif for the majority of the film, showing how paths meet and move on or how paths can change once they meet another. The two characters finally meet in the most simple way, Guys foot bumps into Bruno's as he goes to cross(crisscross motif) his legs once he has seated. The camera finally moves out to show the audience both characters seated in the train, Bruno recognises Guy as a tennis player and invites him to join him for lunch in his private room. As they are sitting after they have finished lunch, Bruno tells Guy about his idea for a perfect murder, he says that if you swap murders there is no motive to connect you, Guy will kill Bruno's father and Bruno will kill Guy's wife Miriam. Guy leaves the train for his stop at Metcalf to ask his wife Miriam for a divorce, when she refuses and Guy becomes enraged. At this stage the audience is presented with a range of possibilities of what will unfold.
Narrative possibilities Will Guy contact Bruno to arrange the murders? Will Guy kill Miriam himself? Will Anne leave him now that Miriam refuses to give him the divorce? Will Guy tell the police about Bruno's plan? Narrative possibilities continue to be evident throughout the film, this connects to the genre of Thriller. Thrillers are designed to illicit suspense, excitement and surprise, a common theme in thrillers involves innocent victims dealing with deranged adversaries.
Setting The setting for this film is America 1950s, this is not directly stated to the audience, however the audience understands that the film is set at the time of release which was 1951. Generally when a film is set in a current time period it is intended to make the film realistic and current. Thrillers are often set in a realistic time period to heighten the suspense. •New York City: represents success, “winning”. •Metcalf: represents Guy’s old “loser” life, connected closely to Miriam. The amusement park is a place to kill time. •Washington DC: represents Guy’s aspirations to be involved in politics.
Cause and Effect The cause and effect chain within this film is essentially driven by Bruno and his determination for the crisscross murders to take place. Once Bruno is aware that Guy is trying to divorce Miriam, which is the first cause, he proposes the crisscross murder. The effect is that Bruno believes that Guy wants to be apart of the plan, the audience see this when Bruno gets in contact with Guy to find out the outcome of his meeting with Miriam. Knowing it was unsuccessful Bruno goes and carries out his part of the crisscross murder. What follows is Bruno becoming more insistent that Guy carry out "his part" to the point where he starts to infiltrate Guys life, attending his tennis matches and parties. Each of Bruno's actions can be considered the 'Causes' and Guys actions or lack of become the 'Effect'. When the 'Effect' is not what Bruno wants, the 'Causes' become more dramatic and less avoidable.
Structure of time This is a linear structure or straight line plot progression, this means that the beginning of the film moves forward to the middle and finally the end. We are introduced to the characters when they first meet on the train, the narrative then follows the events as they unfold in chronological order (the order that they occurred). Filmmakers want to cut unnecessary scenes from the film in-order to make the film more engaging and also to fit all the events they DO need to tell the story within a set time. Structure of time is linked with editing and visual indicators in order to create the illusion that time is passing within the narrative. Different editing techniques like montages can be used to show a long sequence of events in a short time. Alfred Hitchcock uses parallel editing and visual indicators in the tennis match scene to heighten tension. The audience know that Bruno is travelling back to the Metcalf carnival to frame Guy for the murder he committed. At this time Guy is playing in the tennis finals, he must win in three straight sets in-order to get to Metcalf in time to catch Bruno in the act.
Character development Guy Haines –Guy is established as the protagonist he is presented as clean-cut, moral, handsome, conservative, has physical prowess (tennis) but ambitious – wants to be a politician. He is also presented as one side of a coin with Bruno being the other, this difference is highlighted in the characters costumes, their relationships and their occupations or lack of. He develops throughout the conflict with Bruno, he becomes more of a risk taker when trying to find a way out. We see at the end he has learnt his lesson with trusting people and doesn't engage with the passenger in the final scene.
Bruno Antony Bruno is –established as the antagonist he is suave and smooth but effeminate and, therefore, threatening to Guy. Established as a loser or a ‘bum’ in comparison to Guy: “I certainly admire people who do things.” Bruno has minimal development throughout the film, the only thing that really changes is how much information the audience has about him. His guilt over Miriam’s murder (to the point of collapsing at the party) is the first real sign of his weakness, but we can assume this is an innate aspect of his character.
Production elements
Camera techniques Angles Camera angles used to display character dominance, to elicit fear, unease, triumph or strength in the audience. A high camera angle makes the subject look inferior or unimportant to the viewer, a low camera angle makes the subject look powerful to the viewer. Hitchcock uses a variety of camera angles to play with the dominance of Guy and Bruno at different stages within the film.
Lighting Dramatic lighting is frequently used throughout the film along with the use of shadows. The dramatic lighting reinforces the genre of Thriller by enhancing the tension and creating a sinister mood. In the first image Hitchcock creates the illusion of Bruno's shadow devouring/consuming Miriam, we then hear a loud woman's scream. The dramatic lighting is also a motif for light and dark, good and evil, innocent and guilty.
Sound A leitmotif is a reoccurring sound that has connections to a particular person, place or idea. In Strangers on a Train we have two leitmotifs used within the film, the first being train and train track sounds. The train connects the audience back to the original meeting of Bruno and Guy where Bruno proposes the crisscross murder. The second is the carnival/carousel music "And the band plays on", we are first introduced to this music when Bruno is stalking Miriam through the carnival. When they pull up on mystery island the music has died away and we only here the dialogue between Bruno and Miriam until he begins to strangle her and the music builds as he is doing so. This music then returns two more times when Bruno sees Barbara who reminds him of Miriam and what he did.
Editing
Hitchcock uses cross dissolves to connect two scenes imagery or ideas. In the first image we see the cross dissolve of Guy walking through the train station and train tracks. This dissolve has two meanings, one is establishing setting and the other is representing the inevitability of Guy and Bruno's meeting/paths crossing. In the second image we see Guy on the phone to Anne yelling that he could strangle Miriam and then a dissolve to Bruno's hands in the strangle position. This sets up the idea that Guy may in fact go through with the crisscross murder plot that Bruno had introduced him to. Alfred Hitchcock uses parallel editing and visual indicators in the tennis match scene to heighten tension. The audience know that Bruno is travelling back to the Metcalf carnival to frame Guy for the murder he committed. At this time Guy is playing in the tennis finals, he must win in three straight sets in-order to get to Metcalf in time to catch Bruno in the act.