The stranger on the train
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Stranger on the Train German original title: Conspiracy in the Nordexpress |
| Original title | Strangers on a train |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Hitchcock |
| script |
Raymond Chandler Czenzi Ormonde Whitfield Cook |
| production | Alfred Hitchcock for Warner Bros. |
| music | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| camera | Robert Burks |
| cut | William H. Ziegler |
| occupation | |
| |
The stranger on the train (original title: Strangers on a Train) is a thriller by Alfred Hitchcock from 1951 . It is based on Patricia Highsmith 's first novel of the same name (German title: " Zwei Fremde im Zug "). For a long time in Germany the film was called Conspiracy in the Nordexpress .
action
Guy Haines, a tennis star with political ambitions, meets a man named Bruno Antony while riding the train. Bruno, a mother's boy from a wealthy family, has gathered extensive knowledge of Guy's private life from the press: For example, he knows about arguments that Guy has with his separated wife and about Guy's plans to get a divorce Anne Morton, the daughter of a senator, to marry. Bruno suggests a deal: Since he always dreams of committing the “perfect crime”, he is ready to kill Guy's wife if the latter, in return, would kill Bruno's hated father. Since the victims would be completely alien to the murderers, there would be no comprehensible, logical motives for the police. Guy thinks Bruno is a harmless madman.
In Metcalf, Guy leaves the train to visit his wife. She withdraws her consent to the divorce and wants to live with him again. Guy is desperate and angrily tells his girlfriend on the phone that he would like to "strangle" his wife. Meanwhile, Bruno puts his plan into action: he chases Guy's wife and strangles her at a fairground, while Guy is on another train journey. Now he demands the appropriate consideration from his “partner”.
Guy hopes for an alibi from a professor with whom he was sitting on the train at the time of the crime, but he cannot remember him because he is drunk. Since Guy, unlike Bruno, has a motive for the murder of his wife, he does not report the perpetrator to the police. Guy comes more and more into the focus of the investigation, he is accompanied at every turn by the police officer Hennessey.
Since Guy is not ready to do his “duty” despite Bruno's constant stalking, Bruno finally tries to take revenge: He plans to use the lighter with his personal stamp (“A to G” - “From A for G”), the When Guy first met Bruno on the train, he had forgotten to hide at the crime scene, thereby blaming Guy for the murder of his wife Miriam. Guy tries to prevent Bruno from hiding the lighter, but has yet to play an important tennis match. Since the game surprisingly lasts much longer than expected, a race against time begins. Barbara, his girlfriend's sister, manages to give him a head start on the police who are watching him by means of a diversionary maneuver at Hennessey.
Guy and Bruno meet at the children's carousel on the fairground. In the excitement, a policeman shoots the operator of the carousel, who falls so unhappily on the gear lever that the carousel with the children begins to spin at breakneck speed, while Guy and Bruno fight to the death in front of the police officers. When an old man, who has crawled to the center under the rotating plate, switches off the carousel, it suddenly stops, partially breaks and Bruno is trapped by the rubble.
Guy and Inspector Turley bend over the seriously injured man who claims Guy's lighter was on the scene. But when he dies, his left hand opens and the lighter appears, causing the police to acknowledge Guy's innocence.
backgrounds
Hitchcock bought the rights to the Patricia Highsmith novel and tried to adapt it with Raymond Chandler . However, the collaboration didn't work at all; Chandler's versions got - in Hitchcock's view - worse and worse, so that Hitchcock is said to have never spoken to him again. Instead, he hired Czenzi Ormonde, a student of Ben Hecht , who, based on Hitchcock's original storyline, almost completely rewrote the script together with Barbara Keon, a production assistant for Hitchcock and his wife Alma Hitchcock. “Shoemaker, stick to your last!” Was all Hitchcock had to say about working with Chandler after decades of silence.
In Strangers on a train Hitchcock first worked with cinematographer Robert Burks together. In the years that followed, he was instrumental in the success of many Hitchcock films. Together with the later joined film editor George Tomasini and the composer Bernard Herrmann , Burks formed Hitchcock's core team for over a decade.
The fight between the two protagonists on a broken, ever faster rotating carousel is the climax of the thriller. Due to the rapid speed of the carousel and the high frame rate, the scene can still compete with modern action sequences.
In the US version of the film, Guy and Anne can be seen in the final scene in the train on the way back to Washington. Guy is asked by a friendly priest if he is Guy Haines. At first he wants to answer in a friendly manner, but then remembers how Bruno addressed him in the same way and leaves the compartment with Anne without a word.
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created in 1951 at Deutsche Mondial Film in Berlin.
| role | actor | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Guy Haines | Farley Granger | Herbert Stass |
| Bruno Antony | Robert Walker | Erik Ode |
| Senator Morton | Leo G. Carroll | Walter Werner |
| Mrs. Antony | Marion Lorne | Ruth Hellberg |
| Police Captain Turley | Howard St. John | Hans Emons |
| Detective Leslie Hennesy | Robert Gist | Harry Wüstenhagen |
| Detective Hammond | John Doucette | Hans W. Hamacher |
| Madame Darville | Odette Myrtil | Alice Treff |
| Professor Collins | John Brown | Hans Hessling |
Reviews
The Lexicon of International Films writes: “A lesson in suspense and an experiment on secret lust for murder and its burden on the conscience; Excitingly staged and full of 'incidentally' raised moral issues such as guilt and fear. ”The Evangelical Film Observer was also positive, but with one caveat:“ A cleverly made older Hitchcock film with a strong horror tension. Playing with a sick person is not safe. ” Roger Ebert , critic of the Chicago Sun-Times , counts The Stranger on the Train on his Great Movies list and gave it four out of four stars. Ebert praises the cast, especially Walker's performance, as well as the setting up of some key scenes. The film is one of Hitchcock's best works and is a "first-class thriller".
Awards
- 1952 was Robert Burks in the category Best Cinematography (black & white) for an Oscar nomination
- Nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Best Director for Alfred Hitchcock
- Nomination for the National Board of Review Award for Best Picture
Cameo
While Guy Haines leaves the train, Hitchcock gets on with a double bass. See also Hitchcock's cameos .
Differences to the literature
- Bruno Antony is called Charles Anthony Bruno in the novel, and Guy is not a professional tennis player, but an architect.
- In the film, the basic idea from the novel is adopted that two people who seem to have no connection to each other commit murder for the other. The main difference between film and novel is that not only does Bruno murder Guy's wife, but also Guy Bruno's father. Guy marries Anne, but keeps feeling his guilt and finally gives himself away. He is arrested, almost relieved.
Others
- Like Cocktail for a Corpse (1948) and When Calling Murder (1954), this film is also about the “perfect murder”.
- This Hitchcock film was used as the basis for the comedy Throw Mama Off the Train! from 1987 with Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito .
- The film is quoted in many other films and TV series when it comes to planning a "perfect murder". The protagonists in Kill the Boss speak about the film and plan a similar approach.
- At The Simpsons, the first part of Treehouse of Horror XX is a parody of that film.
- Radio play adaptation of NDR: https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/sendung/hoerspiel_kriminalhoerspiel/Hoerspiel-Zwei-Fremde-im-Zug-12,sendung1013380.html
literature
- Patricia Highsmith: Strangers On a Train . Diogenes, Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-257-86079-X .
- Robert A. Harris, Michael S. Lasky, eds. Joe Hembus: Alfred Hitchcock and his films (OT: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock) . Citadel film book from Goldmann, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-442-10201-4 .
- Donald Spoto: Alfred Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius (OT: The Dark Side of Genius, The Life of Alfred Hitchcock) . Heyne, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-453-55146-X .
Web links
- Strangers on a train in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The stranger in the train at rotten tomatoes (English)
- The stranger on the train in the online film database
- Film review by U. Behrens
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for The Stranger on the Train . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , August 2004 (PDF; test number: 37 63V V / DVD).
- ↑ Donald Spoto: Alfred Hitchcock p. 379 ff
- ↑ Strangers on a Train ( Memento of the original from November 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at the synchronous database
- ↑ The stranger on the train. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Review No. 110/1952
- ^ Review by Roger Ebert
- ↑ url = http://www.allmovie.com/work/strangers-on-a-train-47230/awards | title = Strangers on a Train> Awards / Review on Allmovie
