Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense, and this film is undoubtedly a very good one, despite not yet considering it as one of the best of this director. There is really no mystery in this film, we know everything that goes on, but we still stay to see it, because the characters were so well-built that we care what will happen to them.
In this film, two strangers start talking during a long train ride: one is Guy Haines, a renowned tennis player who is going through a tumultuous divorce to marry another woman; the other is Bruno Antony, a spoiled aristocrat who maintains a conflicted relationship with his father, on whom he depends financially. It is Bruno who makes the decision, therefore, to solve their problems by helping each other: Guy would kill Bruno's father and he, in turn, would murder Guy's wife, in the hope of not being caught.
The film is good, but the plot lacks logic and meaning. Bruno, especially, is a character devoid of any coherence, as he has attitudes that anyone, even an unusual person, would decide not to have, like trying to convince a stranger to kill his father. It is something so strange and apparently crazy that it has no verisimilitude.
The cast is based on the elegant and successful performance of two actors: Farley Granger and Robert Walker. Both are excellent and, when they come together and share the screen, they become even more remarkable and grand, particularly Walker, who seems crazy and truly dangerous in his character. Ruth Roman, Kasey Rogers and Patricia Hitchcock also did a satisfying job.
Technically, it is an impeccable film: elegant cinematography makes good use of the effects of light and shadow, and the footage is crisp and beautifully framed. The effects are discreet and the sets and costumes are very good.
In this film, two strangers start talking during a long train ride: one is Guy Haines, a renowned tennis player who is going through a tumultuous divorce to marry another woman; the other is Bruno Antony, a spoiled aristocrat who maintains a conflicted relationship with his father, on whom he depends financially. It is Bruno who makes the decision, therefore, to solve their problems by helping each other: Guy would kill Bruno's father and he, in turn, would murder Guy's wife, in the hope of not being caught.
The film is good, but the plot lacks logic and meaning. Bruno, especially, is a character devoid of any coherence, as he has attitudes that anyone, even an unusual person, would decide not to have, like trying to convince a stranger to kill his father. It is something so strange and apparently crazy that it has no verisimilitude.
The cast is based on the elegant and successful performance of two actors: Farley Granger and Robert Walker. Both are excellent and, when they come together and share the screen, they become even more remarkable and grand, particularly Walker, who seems crazy and truly dangerous in his character. Ruth Roman, Kasey Rogers and Patricia Hitchcock also did a satisfying job.
Technically, it is an impeccable film: elegant cinematography makes good use of the effects of light and shadow, and the footage is crisp and beautifully framed. The effects are discreet and the sets and costumes are very good.