The film Strangers on a train by Alfred Hitchcock engrosses the audience into the noir thrillers shrewd domain of crime. It depicts a sphere in which the impression of terror and nervousness is reinforced by the theme of the divided self and the mysterious form of the double or twin. The film stars Bruno Anthony (Walker) and Guy Haines (Granger). Guy is seen as a deceptively upright tennis player. While Bruno on the other hand, is perceived as the unruly and conspiratorial person. Bruno is a seductive alien who meets Guy on a train from Washington D.C to New York. Excerpts and readings that highlight all the events of Bruno presents him as an insubordinate of the American system, an aberrant who is presented as such, right from the start of the film. The only thing that makes him distinct and rather deviant is his conspicuous showy footwear which is juxtaposed to Guy’s usual shoes which rather are plain.
The film is simply a psychological assessment of the two main characters Guy Haines and Anthony Bruno and their tangled linkage. Hitchcock designs the film to model a thriller, majoring on surprise, ambiguity and action. The film has much been portrayed as a homosexual with an oedipal connection of Bruno to his mother who, because of his divergent sexuality, is potentially culpable for criminal activities of all kinds. The character that is presented by Bruno equivocates amid his craving to destabilize the home patriarchal lineage to a feasibly frivolous state, However, the film is quite clear that he may possibly have no wish to demolish and destroy the White House because it is the symbol of the American patriarchal mandate. 1
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Narrative
The connection that is seen between Guy Haines and Anthony Bruno is triggered by the transformation of Haines as an innocent Hero. Immediately Bruno brings the topic and subject of murder, the basic factors that connect them are translated into a stream of violence which eventually entangles both parties at the end. Bruno accepts to murder Guys wife Miriam and pushes the latter in realizing his fair part of the deal which came as a shock (to murder Bruno’s father).
In whatever ways we may perceive, it simply depends on individual preferences with regard to the characters we approve and pose admiration to. It is undeniable that the film plants the viewers in uncomfortable niches specifically due to the fact that, our interest is geared to the devious character that is presented by Bruno which is way different from the ordinary character of a typical American. Precisely, Bruno is presented to the audience not just as a potential patricide but also as a character who would be culpable of quite a considerable number of treasonable acts as well as a culprit of diplomatic assassinations. This presentation fashions a lot of suspense and the want for more in the film that may exist between antagonized American identities and the political endeavors that are sandwiched in their probability. 2
It’s indisputable that Guy wants to join politics after his career as a tennis player; However, his ambition fades when he falls for Senator Norton’s daughter. This idea presents him as the normative American male in contrast to Bruno’s volatile and unconventional notions of what appropriate social behavior is made of. Nonetheless, Grzebalski present a quantifiable reason for Guy’s erratic behavior saying that, it is because he is dually in back page and society page news and that he represents the principal security risk in the film. In fact, save his deceptively character, there are other additional factors which imposes a question on the American identity of Haines; the first factor is that his wife Miriam, who is presently pregnant by another man, declines his wish for a divorce: second is the shout he made over the phone to Anne that he could put an end to Miriam’s life; and of ultimate importance, is the inability of resisting the seductive character and attentions of Bruno the lawless man. The film presents a picture of the easy way Haines is dragged into the conspiracies of the life of other individuals, realizing himself as tranquil and incapable to the extent of failing to put a shield on his individual principles. 3
Themes
Stranger on a train was a prototype of the series of movies that came to be created and unveiled in the course of Hitchcork’s endeavors as a film producer within and outside the scope of the united State that would put him on a scaling gauge and term him as the best and prominent director of his time if not of the 20 th century. He directed quite a considerable number of movies that rendered him to be defined as the master and leader of suspense films, He was also captivated with the prospects and whims provided to him by the given machination supporting identity politics in the U.S, which prolonged the period of production scores and a firm emphasis of the movies he directed on the features and character of the typical and regular American awareness. This implies that, strangers on a train is no way different and therefore not an accident, this is because it attracts and sandwiches quite a number of knitted intricate and intertwined outlines in the arena of American identity establishment and deconstructions that trigger inquisitiveness in Hitchcock for quite a sizeable period an also his entire stay on earth. 4
Just like all the other movies he has directed which were more inclined to the peripheries of his legacy and the margins of the ordinary scholarly disputations, Stranger on a train is no way different, and it is especially related and similar to the man who knew too much in two significant aspects. Both of them are in dual versions; they are formed and revolve around couples and twins; and they both embed a perspective of the American politics that is tied to aspects of the American display philosophy exhibited via versions of visual arts. In the film “ the man who knew too much” the lad Hal shows a similarity between north African landscapes and the landscapes that are in Las Vegas, Bruno on the other hand put an end to the return of the film on the crafts 20 Big shows carnival, performing a well-ordered and calculated resolution, the movie stranger on the train . The demise and besiegement of Bruno comes from his own wish to go back to the carnival to implant evidence criminalizing Haines in the homicide and assassination of his separated wife Miriam who was murdered earlier long at the same enjoyment square. Based on the same story that was created in 1950 by Patricia Highsmith, stranger on a train introduces a number of adjustments to the writings of Patricia. Guy who is presently a tennis star and not an architect as characterized by Patricia meets a lawless stranger who is Bruno on the train terminuses of New York to Washington and who after a chatting for some time finds out that they have a common problem and therefore they exchange the murders that would not impose a lot of suspicion in them, Bruno would murder Guy’s cheating wife and the latter would murder Bruno’s hated father. However; Guy establishes a pure, destructive side of his personality resonated in Bruno. In the instance where he was travelling to Great Neck to kill Bruno’s Dad, he differentiates the relationship that exists in between Bruno and him in a different manner than during their first meeting. He imposes a lot of questions on himself that leaves him in a dilemma as to whether he was doing the right thing or not. 5
After Bruno completes his respective exchanged problem, and When he realizes that Guy wont hid to their agreement, he tells Guy that he will make sure that his guilt is completely unearthed by implanting a cigarette lighter on the position where Miriam was murdered; the cigarette lighter was a gift that Guy had been given by Anne, hence, Guy emanates to be the chief and principle suspect of Miriam’s Murder. The allegations put his career into threat, his relationship with the senator’s daughter is jeopardized, and his political ambition is defragmented.
The reappearance to the carnival for climax of the film rejuvenates and fulfills a politics of American seeing that is closely embedded with systems of display and castigations gesticulated in the festival culture. This statement is not meant to dismiss the assessments and analysis of other critics on the importance of the enjoyment park prior to the. Martin Rubin a critic of the film perceives conspicuous deployment of the reasonable as a link to the sensation orientated that will continue to connect the thriller part of art with popular enjoyment parks such as the carnival and the rollercoaster. Likewise, Laura Mulvey show how the widening of anger and vengeance is prevalent in the public for the simple reason of the spectacle of obtaining viewers, she cites Strangers on a train as the one and best indicator of such a theme. On the other hand, Robin Wood, terms the enjoyment park and carnival as a symbol of the world that Miriam lived in, the world that she wanted, full of disorder and which only looks for fun and cheap thrill. Miriam’s world just needs cheap fun to attain fulfillment and sovereignty, a thing that will never happen on earth. 6
The employment of the amusement park as a niche and location for punishment is effectively used by Hitchcock. The location is effectively employed as with regard to the cases of lawlessness, sedition, and misdemeanor that is prevalent in the entire film and that act as randomized variables that surround the entire part of U.S and its political and psychosexual crescendos. The carnival area is the area where criminality takes root and blossoms in the film, more precisely, it is used for the commissioning of felonious acts such as Miriam’s murder. The site is also a social field where the rebellious attribute of Miriam is eliminated by other rebellious forces, more exactly Bruno, who goes ahead and threatens the political ambitions and a new love life of Guy Haines. The carnival that acts as the death point lays an ideal niche for surreptitious encounters (observed highlights of engaged couples can be witnessed here, a good example is the lead up to Miriam’s demise). The connections that exist between Bruno and the carnivore are multilayered: to start with, he develops to be a keen observer and of every step Miriam makes; secondly, he takes part in the inside shows; and lastly, he takes advantage of their intimacy and the niche which is outside the usual systems of collective order and the law to homicide. 7
Bruno remains to be part of the enjoyment park and besides this: the mode and style of his attire (example his shoes and the pin by his mother) makes him a victim of the realism that carnival offers, a realism misaligned from ordinary society where difference is dually perceived as a display and upheld as a sideshow atrocity; However, he is also an insubordinate of customary codes of conduct, this is evident in the case where he pops up a young boy’s balloon using a cigarette immediately he enters the carnival.
The celebration and carnival grounds turn out to be a niche for instituting crooked actions not commonly acceptable in the society: Miriam heads there in company of two males; she goes ahead and captures the attention of Bruno, a third male who palpably observes and measures every single step that is made by her and finally taking advantage of the intimacy that had developed, he uses that opportunity to strangle and kill her after a trip via the channel of love to the magic islet.
Cinematic Strategies
Despite the fact that the major and central part of the film revolve around Guy and Bruno, it can cannot be denied that Hitchcock sanctions the formation and dissolution of other pair for the purpose of overlaying and multiplying the feasible arithmetical scopes of his text. Covered in his endeavors and struggles to get into the train as Guy moves out after making his first exploration, Hitchcock yells with a double deep-toned voice (an instrument that has a notable semblance to him) while in other cases he consents other couples and pairs to take the center stage, Nonetheless: Miriam and Guy start an argument of which they dispute on their marriage termination in the shop place where Miriam Works while being watched by another pair just adjacent. In quite a number of occasions, Guy and Ann are brought in the stage all through the film. On the other hand, two police men are apportioned responsibilities to survey every move that Guy makes; Bruno captures the attention of two ladies Anderson and Cunningham in a celebration event prepared by the senator which even he was not expected to arrive; Guy sees Bruno on the other side just watching tennis and after several stage appearances, Hitchcock offers a number of likelihoods, a thing that makes the audience still hold and persist to the movie. Will Guy end up shooting Bruno’s father after his exploration to their home using the directional materials he was issued with? Will guy be in a position to win his last tennis tournament in order to stop Guy from implanting the Lighter at the amusement park? In the case where Bruno loses the lighter in a drain, will he be in a position of recuperating it ? Could the deal of exchanging killings work out perfectly as the way it is contemplated? Was the entire film theorized on a complete arbitrary meeting on an ordinary American commuter Train? Bruno symbolizes the fact that the normal society is open to subversion. Therefore, his indiscriminative way of doing things could not only subvert the calculated moves of the film but also points out that even the laws and societal expectations were also susceptible to subversion. 8
In conclusion, an absurdity of identifying oneself can never take root, and only one section ought to be successful. In this case, the cramped, immoral sides shoulders obligation. The commencement t and debut image of the series which opens with a railway brings the sense of the surrounding and environment of the film. The railway tracks meet and then eventually diverge, this implies that, the fate of Bruno and Guy will amalgamate but then they will finally part ways. The film advocates the need for conformity which will finally crave for suppression for every action that is insubordinate and which leads to a disjointed and deceitful society. The film adventures the resolutions of the dark, deviant world of the noir thriller to disclose that the society, just like its characters, exemplify its own evil pair within it.
Bibliography
Cohen, P. (2015). Alfred Hitchcock . Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
Dima, V. (2011). Strangers No More: the Initial Hitchcock murder. CINEJ Cinema Journal , 1, pp.170-178.
Drumin, W. (2004). Thematic and methodological foundations of Alfred Hitchcock's artistic vision . Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press.
Grzebalski, M. (2000). Strangers from the Train. Chicago Review , 46(3/4), p.327.
Humbert, D. (2013). Re-Visiting the Double: A Girardian Reading of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and Strangers on a Train. Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture , 20(1), pp.253-261.
Lessly, C. (2014). Alfred Hitchcock and the Hollywood Studio System . 1st ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Little Publishers.
Palmer, J. (2008). Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train and Leconte's Man on a Train: Denying and Befriending the Shadow. Psychological Perspectives , 51(2),
1 Lessly, C. (2014). Alfred Hitchcock and the Hollywood Studio System . 1st ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Little
2 Humbert, D. (2013). Re-Visiting the Double: A Girardian Reading of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and Strangers on a Train. Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture , 20(1), pp.253-261.
3 Grzebalski, M. (2000). Strangers from the Train. Chicago Review , 46(3/4), p.327.
4 Dima, V. (2011). Strangers No More: the Initial Hitchcock murder. CINEJ Cinema Journal , 1, pp.170-178
5 Lessly, C. (2014). Alfred Hitchcock and the Hollywood Studio System . 1st ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Little Publishers.
6 Grzebalski, M. (2000). Strangers from the Train. Chicago Review , 46(3/4), p.327.
7 Cohen, P. (2015). Alfred Hitchcock . Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
8 Drumin, W. (2004). Thematic and methodological foundations of Alfred Hitchcock's artistic vision . Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press.
