Alfred Hitchcock and trains go together like Michelangelo and a marble slab. Trains are for Hitchcock a medium and a metaphor, a plot element and a character at the same time. He used trains in his films in amazingly memorable ways, and he uses them with remarkable frequency. In fact, if you randomly choose to watch a Hitchcock film tonight, chances are it will feature at least one train. This post is a celebration of some of his best uses of this romantic, bygone method of transportation. There are other trains in Hitchcock films, but these are my favorites.
Suspicion (1941)
Perhaps not the best on this list,
Suspicion has nonetheless a place in my heart. It's a story of two very different people who meet, fall in love, marry, and then go through the hard times that come when you don't communicate very well prior to marriage. For example: should the man work? How should money be spent? Should you sell off family heirlooms to pay gambling debts? Is he trying to kill me? You know, questions all married couples ask.
But it all begins on a train. Here, in close quarters, our lovable characters are introduced to each other in intimate ways that only a train can force. And it sets the tone of the film. He's the cad, helping himself to money that isn't his ("legal tender my good man, legal tender.") and she's the shy one, going along with it.
Strangers on a Train (1951)
You knew this one had to be on the list. After all, it's the only Hitchcock with the word "train" actually in the title!
Unfortunately, the train itself is not as memorable as what happens on the train. Just like anyone, you probably speak with those you randomly meet in places where you are stuck together for a bit. I mean, it's only polite to have a conversation with the guy next to you on a plane, or someone riding with you on the elevator, right? So when Guy talks for a while with Bruno, we think nothing of it. It's normal -we're together a few hours, let's chat.
And chat they do, as the countryside rolls by. They chat about normal everyday stuff. Like the perfect way to exchange murders. Only one of them doesn't think it's a joke...so when the train ride is over, the consequences still follow.
Perhaps you'll think twice before chatting again with a stranger on a train.
The 39 Steps (1935)
Escaping from London, Richard Hannay must get to Scotland to pursue the only lead he has that can prove his innocence. So he boards the "Flying Scotsman," the famous express train. There he learns of the police manhunt chasing him, and to elude them he breaks into a private compartment, passionately kissing the girl he finds there (after all, no policeman would ever break up such an embrace to look for a fugitive, right?). He then doubles back, pulls the emergency cord, and jumps off the train as it comes to a bridge. It's thrilling, it's fun, and it is classic. Wonderful use of trains to inspire that claustrophobic feeling of "nowhere to go, even though we are going somewhere."
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Hitchcock always called this one his favorite film. So he put two train scenes in it. The first is great, with the fugitive from justice hiding out as though sick, while others ask questions and play spades. And by the way, that's Hitchcock with the flush. Then when the train comes to a stop in the sleepy town, Uncle Charlie hobbles out, looking infirm, then makes a miraculous recovery. He's arrived, and nothing will be the same.
The second scene is the more memorable though, as it comes at the film's climax. Uncle Charlie is leaving, the family is seeing him off. He manages to delay young Charlie, they go to the space between the cars, the door is open. Then the shoving starts...
Uncle Charlie wanted to see the train.
North by Northwest (1959)
Carey Grant and Eva Marie Saint share a moment over a meal on the train.
I love North By Northwest. It is fun, action packed, exciting, humorous, witty, lively, and a host of other pleasant adjectives. It is the most perfect of all Hitchcock's movies about mistaken identity, with a good guy on the run accused of being the bad guy. To prove his innocence, Roger Thornhill must get from New York to Chicago.
So he takes the train. Without a ticket. With cops dogging his every move. And with a mysterious blonde suddenly quite interested in his well-being. Cat-and-mouse, intrigue, romance, and some of Hitchcock's most daring dialogue follow. What's the best form of travel? Well, in North By Northwest the answer is most definitely train.
It even ends on the train, with Thornhill and his new wife becoming better acquainted while the train rolls on. The train has almost become a character in the film, and most certainly is a metaphor.
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Almost the whole of
The Lady Vanishes takes place on a train. It provides the central mystery: where could Miss Froy have gone, given that we are in a confined space on this train? She is nowhere to be found?
The Lady Vanishes has everything good that a movie can possibly mine from trains: the claustrophobia, the false intimacy of being put in close proximity with strangers, the feeling of movement, the class distinctions between those traveling first class and those in third, and so much more. At various times the train in
The Lady Vanishes symbolizes freedom and confinement. It represents the dangerous world, while England and home at the same time. There are friends to be made, but enemies at hand. We travel the way to safety, but never have been more in danger. Our characters move through the compartments and on the outside of the train, exploring nearly every inch of it.
This train, above all others, is the greatest in Hitchcock history. It is setting, plot, theme, symbol, character, hope, and danger all rolled into one. Those who ride these rails will not emerge the same on the other side.
