10 Iconic Images From Alfred Hitchcock Films

2. A Reflection of Murder

In Strangers on a Train (1951), Tennis star Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) on, what else, a train. Both men have someone in their life who is causing them grief. For Guy, it's his wife Miriam (Laura Elliot) whom he wants to divorce, and for Bruno, it's his father. Bruno suggests he and Guy perform a "criss-cross" murder, with Bruno killing Miriam, and in exchange, Guy will kill Bruno's father. Thus, neither will have a motive for killing the other person. Guy leaves the train after this conversation. Bruno, believing Guy's agreed to the deal, then murders Miriam at an amusement park. Bruno believes strangulation is the best, cleanest way to commit murder and as he begins to strangle Miriam, her glasses fall off and we see her murder reflected through them. Hitchcock achieved the shot by filming the exteriors first, with both actors, then calling in Elliott to a soundstage with a reflector set on the floor, and a camera behind it. Hitchcock had Elliott turn her back to the camera and float backwards all the way down to the floor. It took a few takes for Elliott not to fall down but she eventually nailed it. Hitchcock then had the two shots double printed. It's an inventive way to film the murder and one that makes it all the more disturbing due to its detachment from the actual deed. It asks the audience to truly soak in the moment. It achieves a great balance of elegance and horror. Screenwriter Joseph Stefano, who wrote the screenplay for Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), praises the shot in the documentary "Strangers on a Train: A Hitchcock Classic, saying that "It was brilliance that didn't get in the way of the feeling of the movie. And I felt like Hitchcock often did that. He would go out of his way to do it differently and you would know it was being done differently but it didn't bother you."