It begins with the shriek of a train and ends with shrieking excitement!
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Written by: Patricia Highsmith (novel), Whitfield Cook (adaptation), Czenzi Ormonde, Raymond Chandler (screenplay)
Starring: Robert Walker as Bruno Anthony, Farley Granger as Guy Haines, Ruth Roman as Anne Morton, Patricia Hitchcock as Barbara Morton, Kasey Rogers as Miriam Haines, Robert Gist as Hennessey, and Leo G. Carroll as Senator Morton
I've heard many things about this film - that it was a hack, that it was Hitchcock's best film, that it was/wasn't worth my time. But I figure anything Hitchcock did is worth two hours at least if I'm going to watch a film.
Right off the get go, I was impressed with the cinematography...as usual. Hitchcock always does a great job using shots of seemingly innocuous things to add depth to both his characters and his storyline. You see that really, Guy and Bruno are similar - although one is a psychopath. Bruno initially appears to be just a bit annoying, eccentric or an odd fan. It isn't until we see him home with his family that realize there's more than just the usual wrong with the man.
The one thing I particularly enjoyed about this film is the way Hitchcock doesn't allow Miriam to be as much as a victim as many other movies do. She is disgusting in nearly every way - an unfaithful wife, a blackmailer, a vicious woman - and I don't claim this merits being killed but it makes it a bit easier when she dies. Barbara ends up playing the victim half of Miriam's character, another part of Hitchcock's genius. Every character has their perfect little niche in the story, even if they aren't involved in blackmail or murder.
I cannot praise enough the slow build of suspense that flows in this movie. There are several minor climaxes up until the end of the movie which explodes. Bruno is exceptionally creepy and Guy is wonderfully paranoid - with Barbara and Anne flitting around on the sidelines adding a sense of urgency to the story. They're in danger, therefore must be protected. Hitchcock uses music and silence, light and dark, spectacular shots with the camera, and strange plot twists to run this movie exactly as a train. It starts out shudderingly, novel, and full of promises. It speeds up until it reaches its destination, where it (unlike a train, hopefully) ends with a cataclysmic showdown between good and evil. How about five pairs of glasses out of five (5/5)?
