strangers on a train

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

Strangers on a Train is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s latest black & white movies made in 1951. It is a film about two strangers who meet on a train and decide to swap murders, as the story unravels from there it uses some exceptional camera work and editing to make the film such a great one. However as well as these two there are also other factors that make this film so effective and enjoyable to watch.

EDITING:

The opening sequence uses almost all straight cuts to move between the shots, this keeps the fast pace and the suspense especially in the first minute where there are only shots of the two characters’ feet. The straight cuts keep the fast pace because there is no time between shots so the suspense naturally builds up coinciding with the music. The only different edit between the shots is one fade which fades from the train station scene to the point of view of the train on its journey. This fade works because it is showing a total change of scene and so shows that time has passed between the characters arriving at the station and the train embarking on its journey.

MISE EN SCENE:

Because we don’t see the characters faces in the first minute and a half, mise en scene becomes very important, for example the character’s shoes. From the moment we see Robert Walker’s shoes we know that there is something different about him. The bright white of his shoes works in contrast with the grey background and black of everyone else’s shoes and marks him out. Farley Granger’s shoes however are similar to everyone else’s in that they are plain black and so show him as a more normal character who has nothing that extravagant about himself. The setting itself is a perfect backdrop to what happens in the story since it signifies the beginning of a journey, and later on the train tracks are the ideal way to mark out the “criss-cross” between the characters and their lives.

USE OF CAMERA:

So that no characters’ faces are seen in the opening all the camera angles are very low, this creates a lot of mystery and tension in the opening because it is impossible to see the faces and reactions of any character. The camera tracks along following the characters’ feet which creates the effect that both men are on a journey to somewhere and they both have a purpose. The most interesting camera angle is the point of view of the train. It is a very interesting and effective way of emphasizing and showing the train tracks criss-crossing.

LIGHTING & COLOUR:

The opening shows very natural lighting, this includes shadows cast on the ground. However lighting is not a key part of this opening since the opening is supposed to be purely coincidental and therefore could happen on any day, changing the lighting to be very low-key would over-emphasize the events that are about to take place.

SOUND:

The music that plays in the background of the opening works parallel to the event, generally it is quite jolly and upbeat, however whenever we have short edits of the two men walking towards each other a deeper, darker music plays over the top suggesting something drastic is about to happen. The sound is mostly nondiegetic as there is no dialogue, and we hear the music and the sounds of the train station like the announcements. However to keep the natural tone we do still hear things like footsteps, car sounds and train sounds.