Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, "Strangers on a Train" is a classic piece of Hitchcockian ingenuity. All the elements are there; an ordinary man caught in an impossible situation, some marvellous cinematic set piecesand the creeping, sinister build up of tension.

The plot is delightfully straightforward and quickly revealed. Guy (Granger) is a professional tennis player whose marital problems have been well reported in the press. Bruno (Walker) meets Guy on a train and suggests that they help each other out; Bruno will murder Guy's wife if Guy will murder Bruno's father in return. With prior knowledge of the crime both can establish an airtight alibi and can never be linked to the crime. So ends what Guy thinks is a harmless conversation until his wife is murdered and Bruno insists that he keep to his end of the deal.

Once again, in this movie, Hitchcock shows the quality of his film making. His use of lighting and camera work is outstanding and adds to the atmosphere and suspense. In particular, Bruno's un-moving face in a sea of tennis spectators, all turning their heads back and forth in unison is wonderful, as is the reflection of the murder in his victim's glasses. Walker is a splendid villan - smooth, creepy, and amoral, and at times it is hard not to identify more with Bruno than with the weaker Guy.

Exhilarating, fast-moving and, together with his characteristically wicked approach, this is one of Hitchcock's most resourceful and cold-blooded thrillers, and the climactic runaway roundabout provides one of his most exciting endings.

"Strangers on a Train" was one of those film classics I had always heard about but somehow never gotten around to actually seeing. I finally watched it a few weeks ago and, as always with any Hitchcock movie, it not only stood up to the test of time, it far surpassed most thrillers being made today. You can see the inspiration for future action movies here - the climactic ending with the out-of-control merry-go-round and the two villains dueling each other reminded me of the big action sequence at the end of Jan de Bont's "Speed." Of course, "Strangers" is over forty years older than "Speed" and contains no modern special effects, but the visceral thrill is there - Hitchcock was a true genius.

The not-so-subtle gay side of Bruno (Robert Walker in an amazing performance) has taken form in many other psycho-stalker-figures in future movies. Consider him a male version of Jennifer Jason Leigh in "Single White Female." He knows about Guy before he even meets him on the train - we almost get the feeling their contact isn't incidental - and is soon entirely obsessed with him.

Hitchcock loved the Oedipial elements in his movies (also see "Psycho" for more blatant undertones) and there's a lot of that here. Bruno hates his father and wants him to die so he can be with his mother. His effeminate ways and obvious homosexuality must have just slipped by the censors in 1951, when gays were not "allowed" to be portrayed on the screen - yet Hitchcock gets the message through effectively when we see Bruno in the lounge on the telephone wearing a very non-masculine robe, flirting with Guy and responding to his mother.

The deep layers of this movie make it a fast-paced thriller than you can return to again and again - unfortunately it's being remade as a big-budget Hollywood production, but after seeing the original I honestly can't imagine anything surpassing the sheer white-knuckle thrills of this movie.