Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece ‘Strangers on a Train’

In this comprehensive account, journalist Rebello (A City Full of Hawks) tells the behind-the-scenes saga of Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. Though less talked about than some of his other films, Strangers on a Train “offers some of the sharpest zingers and most indelible set pieces in the entire Hitchcock canon,” according to Rebello. He notes that by the 1950s Hitchcock’s once brilliant star had dulled significantly; three consecutive films—The Paradine Case, Rope, and Under Capricorn—had been met with critical and box office apathy. In search of a new idea, the director decided to adapt Patricia Highsmith’s debut novel Strangers on a Train, a thriller about two men who discuss a plot to carry out murders for each other. But the road to success was anything but easy. Hitchcock struggled to recruit writers and actors, and no one had much faith in the project, including studio executive Jack Warner, who wanted to replace Hitchcock when production went over schedule. In addition to chronicling how Hitchcock meticulously crafted his comeback film, Rebello paints a portrait of the period’s repressive political landscape, which was marked by the anti-communist suspicion and censorship of McCarthyism and forced Hitchcock to downplay references to violence and sexual promiscuity to appease censors. This peek behind the maestro’s curtain will spellbind cinema fans. Photos. (Sept.)