Strangers on a Train (1950) is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith. It was adapted as a film in 1951 by director Alfred Hitchcock.

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Plot summary

Architect Guy Haines wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, Miriam, in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Faulkner. While on a train to see his wife, he meets Charles Anthony Bruno, who develops his idea to exchange murders: Bruno will kill Miriam if Guy kills Bruno's father; neither of them will have a motive, and the police will have no reason to suspect either of them. Guy does not take Bruno seriously, but Bruno kills Guy's wife while Guy is away in Mexico.

Bruno informs Guy of his crime, but Guy hesitates to turn him in to the police. He realizes that Bruno could always claim Guy's complicity in the planned exchange murders, and the longer he remains silent, the more he implicates himself. This implicit guilt becomes stronger as in the coming months, Bruno makes appearances demanding that Guy honor his part of the bargain. After Bruno starts writing anonymous letters to Guy's friends and colleagues, the pressure becomes too big, and Guy murders Bruno's father.

Subsequently, Guy is consumed by guilt, whereas Bruno seeks Guy's company as if nothing had happened. He makes an uninvited appearance at Guy's wedding, causing a scene. At the same time, a private detective, who suspects Bruno of having arranged the murder of his father, establishes the connection between Bruno and Guy that began with the train ride, and suspects Bruno of Miriam's murder. Guy also becomes implicated due to his contradictions about the acquaintance with Bruno.

When Bruno falls overboard during a sailing cruise, Guy identifies so strongly with Bruno that he tries to rescue him under threat to his own life. Nevertheless, Bruno drowns, and the murder investigation is closed. Guy, however, is plagued by guilt, and confesses the double murder to Miriam's former lover. This man, however, does not condemn Guy; rather, he considers the killings as appropriate punishment for the unfaithfulness. The detective who had been investigating the murders overhears Guy's confession, however, and arrests him.

Differences between novel and film

Hitchcock's film adaptation follows the novel's plot fairly closely until Bruno demands Guy fulfill "his end of the bargain", when it makes a radical departure from the source material. In the film, Guy (played by Farley Granger) is a tennis player intending to go into politics. He refuses to kill Bruno's father, and threatens to go to the police. Bruno (played by Robert Walker) then targets Guy and his fiancée, leading up to a climax in which he is killed by a freak accident while trying to kill his former "friend" (the accident occurs on a speeding merry-go-round, an incident that forms the climax of The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (Bruce Montgomery) published by Gollanz in 1946). Guy's willingness to commit murder, along with his subsequent remorse and arrest, are left out in favor of a more heroic portrayal and a happy ending.

The film also tones down the homosexual subtext of Guy and Bruno's relationship. ^[1]

Theatrical and radio adaptations

Playwright Craig Warner acquired the stage rights to Strangers on a Train in 1995, and subsequently wrote both theatrical and radio adaptations of the story.

The theatrical adaptation has had a number of successful productions worldwide (and is published by Samuel French). The radio version was recorded and broadcast by the BBC, and released on CD in May 2004 ^[2]

In contrast to the Hitchcock film, the Warner versions stress the homosexual subtext, and also follow the plot of the novel fairly closely - although there are several differences in the denouement. Guy's eventual confession is to Anne, not to Miriam's lover. The detective succeeds in solving the original murder plot and confronts Bruno with the details, but declines to take further action (feeling that both men will spend the rest of their lives punishing themselves with guilt and fear). The devastated Bruno - with his security destroyed and realising that he will have no support or love from Guy - then takes his own life in front of Guy by climbing onto a railway track where he is killed by an oncoming train. Anne persuades Guy to put the whole matter behind him and to resume his interrupted architectural career.

Influence in popular culture

Both Highsmith's novel and Hitchcock's film have been referenced, imitated, and parodied in films such as Throw Momma from the Train , Once You Kiss a Stranger , Dead End , Bollywood's Strangers , and the Telugu film Visakha Express , and television shows such as CSI , Law & Order , Arthur , Peep Show and The Simpsons . J. D. Robb's 2008 book, Strangers in Death, references both Highsmith's novel and Hitchcock's film as NYPSD Homicide Detective Eve Dallas attempts to solve two seemingly unrelated murders. Noted Italian horror and thriller director Dario Argento paid homage to this (and several other Hitchcock films) in Do You Like Hitchcock?

Sonic Youth's song Shadow Of A Doubt lyrically references Strangers On A Train.

Footnotes

1. Slant Magazine - Film Review: Strangers on a Train
2. Information on May 2004 BBC audio releases, retrieved November 18, 2008