Hello all! Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I love to buddy watch movies together – even though I am in Michigan and she is in Pennsylvania! We don’t literally watch together in a watch party, although that might be fun one time! We wanted our fall list to feel fall cozy, move into some more chilling movies, than turn cozy again for November.
This week’s movie is another Hitchcock, Strangers on a Train, and it freaked me out y’all. It honestly gave me the creeps!!
I had never watched this movie before, but I was familiar with the premise, or what I thought was the premise, that two strangers meet on a train and agree to commit a murder for the other. However, I was wrong, that is not what this movie is about, as one of the strangers on the train wasn’t playing that game.
Guy Haines (played by Farley Granger) meets Bruno Antony ( Robert Walker) on board a train. Bruno recognizes Guy as a famous athlete, a tennis pro who is involved with the daughter of a Senator, even though he is already married to another woman. Bruno is a complete psychopath. Seriously creepy. He proposes that Guy murder Bruno’s father for him, and Bruno will murder Miriam, Guy’s wife. This trade would clear the more likely suspect, and the real killer would not be caught because there is no reason to connect them to the victim. Guy kind of dismisses this whole conversation, believing Bruno to just be rattling on and not serious – because, that would be crazy, right? Well, Bruno is crazy, and Bruno stalks and kills Guy’s wife Miriam. That whole part was super terrifying, more so because Miriam noticed Bruno, noticed him watching her and stalking her, and thought it was a flirtation and did not consider that he was a maniac going to kill her, until, well, he did. There was a part where Miriam and the two men she was with were in a boat going through the Tunnel of Love, and Bruno was following in his boat (and his awkward popcorn) and the shadows on the wall made it look like Bruno had caught up to them – then this was cut scene to outside the tunnel and we hear a woman scream, making which made me start and wonder how Bruno managed to kill her with the two other men there? But, he didn’t. Not yet at least.
That scene was masterfully filmed though – good job Hitchcock! The scene was reflected in Miriam’s glasses, which had fallen off in the attack and were shattered on the ground.
Bruno shows up to Guy’s house right after, and calls to him from a dark alley. Because that is totally normal. Guy is like what the heck are you doing here, this is weird and I don’t like it, and Bruno tells him that he has killed Miriam for him and now it is Guy’s turn to kill Bruno’s dad. Guy is not down with this plan, and tells him so, but Bruno has Guy in a pickle, and I 100% expected him to say Quid pro quo. He has Guy’s lighter, one that is engraved with a special message and two tennis rackets, that he could plant at the crime scene at anytime. And Guy has become suspect number one in her death.
I was really impressed at how much manpower the police were putting out there to find Miriam’s killer. It was super high priority, maybe due to Guy’s status, but otherwise it would not seem like poor Miriam’s death (who was actually very unlikeable) would merit that amount of attention. Anyway, Guy meets with his lady love, Anne, her father the Senator, and Anne’s sister, Barbara. I loved Barbara. She was chatty and outspoken and.. wore glasses. This is apparently a very important part of the film, all these women in glasses.
The rest of the movie is an intricate game between Guy and Bruno, with Bruno driving most of it in a terrifying way. It’s like the tennis match, back and forth, back and forth, with the viewers tense with wondering what will happen next. In fact, there is a tennis match that is super creepy, and totally Hitchcock. We see the crowd, watching the ball go back and forth, back and forth, their heads moving to watch as one almost – except Bruno, who has fixed his gaze and attention totally on Guy.
Bruno’s mom is another treat. She seems to know that her son is crazy but chooses to not think about it. Or talk about it. She just said that sometimes he goes too far… otherwise it is like the song says, we don’t talk about Bruno..
The tension just keeps building and building with some amazing scenes throughout the rest of the movie. Guy sneaks into Bruno’s house with a gun, and we are led to believe he has finally succumbed to the pressure and is going to do the deed – but when he enters the bedroom that should be Bruno’s dad and the person in the bed sits up, and it is Bruno! Eeek!
And then the ending!!! It was a race to the finish it seemed, and it got wild and crazy with a fight scene on a carousel that was stuck on super fast – because the carousel operator was shot and killed by the police by accident (whatttt? no one even seemed to care!) The police couldn’t figure out how to stop the thing which was spinning and spinning and spinning at top speed, with screaming families and children aboard while Bruno and Guy duked it out. Then an old dude stepped up and and volunteered to do it, and very very slowly crawled underneath and made his way back, but in turtle mode of course. Slowly and surely.
Billy and I did have a bit of a laugh during this scene though. There is a part where a terrified mother is in the crowd being held back by the police and she is yelling about her boy being stuck on the ride, “My little boy!!” and the camera pans back to the carousel and the boy is grinning away, having the time of his life. Billy and I looked at each other and laughed, because that would totally be me and Wyatt.
This movie was fantastic, all the way up the end. I was scared and creeped out and whew the tension level. Robert Walker was terrifying.
So let’s talk about Miriam, Barbara, and those glasses! I read online from a few sources but most notably from Shattered Glasses: The Symbolism of the Female Gaze in Strangers on a Train by Nellie Smith that the glasses symbolized women who were seeing, as opposed to being seen. Miriam and Barbara were not meek and mild, they were not the perfect picture of femininity. They were different. They were bold and wild in the case of Miriam, and outspoken and confident in the case of Barbara. They watch. They see things. They comment. I highly recommend clicking on over and reading what Ms. Smith had to say because it was fascinating!
Barbara also wears the round glasses, the symbol of the gaze. While she is far more likable than Miriam, they are alike in the unapologetic way they both observe and comment upon situations. Barbara is forthright in all her dealings, and is not afraid to show her intelligence and mental acuity by a blunt appraisal of any situation, without regard for diplomacy. “That poor, unfortunate girl,” says Senator Morton, referring to Miriam’s death. “She was a tramp,” says Barbara, matter-of-factly.
Shattered Glasses: The Symbolism of the Female Gaze in Strangers on a Train, Nellie Smith
And that is it from this woman here in glasses, me. I absolutely loved this movie. There was so much to it, hidden in the shadows, so much unsaid but revealed in actions – if you have not seen this movie, you need to. Absolutely brilliant!
If you are watching and posting along with us, post in the linky below! It will be up until midnight next Wednesday.
Be sure to check out Lisa’s amazing post over on Boondock Ramblings!
Next up: Rebecca – the last of our thrillers before we head back into cozy territory.
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 