Strangers on a Train (1951 Film) Literary Elements

Strangers on a Train (1951 Film) Literary Elements

Director

Alfred Hitchcock

Leading Actors/Actresses

Farley Granger, Robert Walker, and Ruth Roman

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock, and Laura Elliott

Genre

Psychological Thriller

Language

English

Awards

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography

Date of Release

30th June 1951

Producer

Alfred Hitchcock

Setting and Context

the 1950's: on a train and Washington D.C.

Narrator and Point of View

Told from a third-person point of view

Tone and Mood

Violent, Solemn, Chaotic, Mysterious, and Conniving

Protagonist and Antagonist

Guy (Protagonist) vs. Bruno (Antagonist)

Major Conflict

Guy's struggle to fend off Bruno's attempts to get him to murder someone.

Climax

When Guy and Bruno meet at a carousel

Foreshadowing

Bruno and Guy's meeting on the train foreshadows Guy's reluctance to murder the person Bruno wants him to

Understatement

Bruno's homosexuality is understated throughout the film.

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

N/A

Allusions

Patricia Highsmith's novel of the same name, The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Rope (1948), The 39 Steps (1935), popular culture of the time, mythology, religion, the Bible, and geography of the United States.

Paradox

Guy did not commit murder, yet is the number one suspect of it.

Parallelism

N/A

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