Strangers on a Train

I always thought that Robert Walker was a lightweight and happened to be Jennifer Jones' husband and that was about the extent of it. Then I saw "Strangers On A Train" and his performance in that film changed my mind and how!! His dark, perverse character is the epitome of evil with a smiling face. He oozes through this film like a bad dream and is your worst nightmare. The story, from the book by Patricia Highsmith, is well adapted from the original and may even be better. I read the book after seeing the movie and I was biased by the images from the film that kept popping before my eyes. Farley Granger, who never was one of my favorites is all wrong for the part of Guy Haines. Hitchcock insisted on using him (see "Rope")....he obviously saw something in him. His personality is so unattractive that it makes you wonder how Ruth Roman could ever be in love with him. He is the perfect victim for Walker, and is a weakling who won't even go to the police when the murder swapping scenario begins. Some of the images in this film are quite striking.....the reflection in the victim's glasses, the tennis match where everyone is watching the ball except Walker, and the fingers groping in the drain for the lighter. Pure Hitchcock. Poor Robert Walker never got the chance to follow up this wonderful performance due to his untimely death and the promise he showed here as a villain may have taken him to greater characterizations. This may not be one of Hitchcock's best films but it certainly should be on everyone's list as a must-see.