American Cinematographer - December 2004 - 18

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Strangers on a Train (1951)
1.33:1 (Full Frame)
Digital Monaural
Warner Flome Video, $26.99

MUSIC VIDEOS

PRODUCING

SCREENWRITING
SPECIAL EFFECTS

SOUND

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"What is a life or two, Guy? You
murder, I do yours - crisscross,"
preens Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker),
the dapper psychopath at the center of
do my

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Alfred FHitchcock's cat-and-mouse classic

Strangers on a Train. Unlucky tennis
champ Guy FHaines (Farley Granger)
makes this acquaintance on a train trip to
meet his estranged wife, Miriam (Kasey
Rogers as Laura Elliott), to finalize
divorce proceedings. Bruno is well aware
that Guy plans to marry Ann (Ruth
Roman), a wealthy senator's daughter,

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16

DVD transfer

this

accurate and

was

clean,

picture transfer is outstanding
and appears sharper, with better
new

contrast and less

than its

source-material

wear

predecessor. The monaural

audio track has been cleared of agerelated defects and sounds full and
theatrical trailer, this disc contains a

original

feature-length audio commentary that is
best described as overproduced; Highsmith biographer Andrew Wilson, film
critic Richard Schickel and director Peter

Hitchcock's strongest

Bogdanovich headline more than half a
degrees of inter¬
est fighting for the microphone, with
Jaws author Peter Benchley inexplicably
among them! Though this commentary
offers some insights, it's simply too
disjointed. Its only true asset is the inclu¬
sion of Bogdanovich's original audio

during his first decade in the
Hollywood system, this adaptation of
Patricia Highsmith's novel Strangers on a

discusses key scenes as they unfold.
The 103-minute preview cut that

One

of

Train remains
NATIONALLY ACCREDITED BY

theatrically released and the
"preview" version.
The first disc contains the origi¬
nal theatrical release. Though the 1997
was

103-minute

vibrant. In addition to the film's

efforts
SAN FRANCISCO, CA

both the 101-minute version of the film
that

Guy laughingly declines the offer of
"swapping murders" and leaves his curi¬
ous new fan on the train. But things get
ugly when Bruno tracks down Miriam
and murders her in an amusement park.
Tension mounts as Guy, the prime
suspect in the crime, enlists Ann, her
father (Leo G. Carroll) and her sister
(Patricia Hitchcock) to help prove his
innocence and dodge the vengeful Bruno,
who stalks the group, ready to snap and
kill again.

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sided DVD released in 1997, contains

and that the shrewish Miriam is in his
way.

ACA DEMYof A RT

Granger, Carroll and other
production-team members in the past,
the film marked his first pairing with
cinematographer Robert Burks, ASC
(The Fountainhead, The Spirit of St.
Louis). Burks' crisp, expressionistic
compositions in the film not only earned
him an Academy Award nomination, but
also cemented his relationship with
Hitchcock, who called on him to photo¬
graph nearly all of his subsequent
projects until Burks' death, in 1968.
Warner Home Video recently
released a two-disc special edition of
Strangers on a Train that, like the two-

one

of the director's most

popular films. Although Hitch had

dozen voices of varying

interviews

opens

with

Hitchcock,

who

the second disc features a nearly
picture and sound transfer. The

identical
American Cinematographer - December 2004

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2004
