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The classic Hitchcock scenario: Two strangers meet on a train and come to discuss a plan to help each other eliminate each other's problematic family members - one man's wife and the other man's father.
As great as the premise is, the follow through seemed to lose steam for me as it went along. It's a movie that would be ripe for a remake if Billy Crystal hadn't already botched it a while back with "Throw Momma From the Train".
The highlight of the film is Robert Walker as the a-little-crazy, a-little-gay instigator of the plan. Back in 1951 his effeminite demeanor must have seemed chillingly weird to moviegoers, but even now it adds an edge to his cold predatory character.
Typical of Hitchcock there are some great shots here, like the view of the murder through the fallen eyeglasses and my favorite - Walker's silohuette hunting his prey in the Love Canal.

Posted at March 22, 2005 10:32 PM

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