Strangers on a Train (1951) Part 2

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A Novel Chase Scene

Once Walker has made his declaration of vengeance against Granger he decides to plant the cigarette lighter he had taken from him in the same spot where Granger’s wife was strangled, thereby implicating Granger in her murder. His effort is bolstered by the fact that Granger and his wife had engaged in a loud argument at the record store where she is employed shortly before her death.

In the case of extending the period leading up to the dramatic argument between the film’s two chief figures, Hitchcock had done his utmost to “milk” scenes by extending suspense. Once more he leaves his audience in a nail-biting state. About the time that it is concluded one can easily wonder if Hitchcock has unleashed his full bag of tricks and has nothing more left to generate additional surprise. Such concerns were groundless.

A period of surprising suspenseful intensity occurs when Granger, faced with playing in the finals of a tennis match, realizes that a furious Walker, feeling that Granger has betrayed him, is heading to Granger’s hometown of Metcalf, Pennsylvania to plant the cigarette lighter that he hopes will be the linchpin to frame him for the murder of Granger’s wife.

In the tennis match that is filmed, utilizing as Granger’s opponent Jack Cushingham, a top professional of the period, crowd sequences were shot from actual footage at the U.S. Nationals competition at Forest Hills, New York, enhancing scenic authenticity.

As a means of extending drama, the tennis match involves Granger adopting a strategy that is inconsistent with his general deliberative style, which matches his lifestyle as well. The match’s radio commentator expresses surprise over Granger’s slashing, aggressive style of attacking the net, pressing the action against Cushingham. The viewer knows that the strategy is based on the necessity of reaching the Metcalf amusement park before Walker can accomplish his evil deed.

At one point in the match it appears that Granger’s strategy has succeeded to the point where an early victory is at hand. Once more Hitchcock prolongs suspense as the radio announcer reveals that Cushingham has made a brilliant comeback as the match is extended.

Hitchcock Assists Granger

As the match tightens close-ups are shown of a tense, perspiring Granger, who knows that time is his enemy as his determined adversary seeks to frame him for murder. The importance of time is emphasized as Granger, between volleys, sneaks peeks at the stadium clock while his face registers worried concern over the crucial nature of the moment at hand.

Once that the match ends Granger is given a timely assist from Hitchcock. No, not from Alfred Hitchcock but his daughter Patricia, the wily young sister of Ruth Roman, who knows the importance of Granger eluding the two Washington, D.C. police officers assigned to trail the then murder suspect.

Since one of the officers has a crush on Hitchcock she engages him in a brief flirtation while the less friendly partner is away, giving Granger the break he needs to make his exit and ultimately make it to Grand Central Station. At that point the race moves into high gear as Granger catches a train bound for Metcalf.

Hitchcock is part of another key scene of the film. She learns firsthand the killing urge of Walker at a wealthy aristocratic Washington party. While Walker is demonstrating murder mystery technique for an aristocratic older lady he stares piercingly at Hitchcock, who bears a striking resemblance to Granger’s wife, right down to the spectacles each wore. Hitchcock realizes that Walker is symbolically strangling Granger’s wife again as he ultimately has to be pulled off of the society matron.

Identifying with the Villain

An important scene from Strangers on a Train occurs when the audience has an opportunity to identify with the film’s villain. During the race to plant the potentially incriminating cigarette lighter, Walker drops it into the grill and to the bottom of a manhole.

A desperate Walker, proclaiming that he has lost an important family heirloom, receives the help of downtown locals who believe they are being good Samaritans, never realizing they are assisting a psychopathic killer seeking to frame an innocent man for a murder he has committed.

This interesting highly visual scene supplies yet another example of Hitchcock’s unique ability to make his characters jump through hoops in an effort to drain every conceivable drop of suspense from a scene.

The Ultimate Roman Candle?

Hitchcock was noted for setting off Roman candles in his films, visual pyrotechnics that virtually exploded while transfixing filmgoers. Perhaps the ultimate Roman candle the great director unleashed came in the culminating scene of Strangers on a Train when Granger seeks to take the cigarette lighter away from Walker while they are on a rapidly moving carousel.

Robert Burks, who had been a special effects photographer at Warner Brothers, began a lengthy collaboration with Hitchcock on Strangers on a Train. He would serve as Hitchcock’s cameraman for every film from 1950 to 1964, with the exception of Psycho.

Burks’ background in special effects was particularly helpful in the merry-go-round scene. As I wrote in my book Hitchcock and the Methods of Suspense:

“When the carousel finally breaks down there is a massive explosion. Screams are heard while bodies and machine parts fly. To achieve this dramatic effect Hitchcock took a toy carousel and photographed it being blown up by a small charge of explosives. The film was then enlarged and projected on a vast screen. Actors were strategically placed around and in front of it, creating the effect of a mob of bystanders intermingled with plastic horses and hysterical passengers in a state of great confusion. The effort to achieve order amid the reigning chaos can be said, once more, to symbolize Hitchcock’s fascination with duality, juxtaposing the cruel and anarchistic side of nature with that of orderliness and human decency.

“Given the potential of such a spine-tingling dramatic climax, Hitchcock could not resist the opportunity to once more delay the moment of resolution. An amusement park worker is compelled to crawl slowly beneath the runaway carousel, creeping slowly underneath it to finally shut off the power and bring it to a screeching halt. In true Hitchcock fashion, every slow, difficult movement was photographed. Another clever touch had the veteran amusement park employee pausing briefly to blow his nose.”

This was Robert Walker’s finally completed film and his dazzling performance culminated with his death after he was thrown violently from the carousel as he continued to cling to the precious cigarette lighter until his final moment of life, when it falls free from his previously tightly clenched hand.

A Good Price and Collaborating with Chandler

By having his agent negotiate for the rights to the Patricia Highsmith suspense novel Strangers on a Trainwhile keeping his identity hidden, Hitchcock was able to secure them for $7,500. While the low price displeased Highsmith, the American born author who wrote many more novels and lived most of her life in Paris, received name value by her attachment to one of Hitchcock’s most heralded films that endured for the remainder of her long and productive career.

Hitchcock began by collaborating on a screenplay with Raymond Chandler. Eventually the great detective author became disgusted and broke off their collaboration. The finished screenplay, nonetheless, despite Chandler’s belief that his contributing efforts had been ultimately abandoned, bears his name along with that of the person Hitchcock chose after their relationship ended, Czenzi Ormonde, who was a frequent collaborator with Ben Hecht. The veteran Hecht, who did not get involved in this project due to other commitments, had written screenplays for two of Hitchcock’s most successful films, Spellbound (1945) and Notorious (1946).

Chandler, despite personality conflicts, had co-written the brilliant 1944 adaptation of James Cain’s novella Double Indemnity along with the film’s director Billy Wilder, but Hitchcock’s methods appeared so alien to the master detective author that he quit in the belief that the director’s imprint would remain alone at the end of the project.

At one point during their collaboration, Chandler was quoted as stated in exasperation to the effect of, “If you can do it all by yourself then why do you need me at all?”

Chandler’s frustration stemmed from an absence of understanding Hitchcock’s approach to filmmaking. Hitchcock, along with Walt Disney, used storyboards for their films, working with an artist to painstakingly present each scene in graphic detail prior to photographing scenes.

Whereas Billy Wilder followed a fundamental approach to story writing that Chandler understood, developing a screenplay scene by scene, Hitchcock began with a personal vision. That vision began with a series of graphic images that were honed into scenes, after which the appropriate dialogue and other story action unfolded.

To Alfred Hitchcock filmmaking represented visual imagery at its zenith. Those images remain immersed in the memories of anyone who viewed his films, and Strangers on a Train marked a crowning blend of skillful suspense merging with dazzling imagery.