Strangers on a Train 1951
Alfred Hitchcock seriously had a thing for glasses. Not just for his films either; he insisted that his secretary Carol Stevens wore them. A studio optician designed four or five pairs for her to wear. If she came to set without them Hitch would be furious. He also enjoyed ordering her to remove them.
He used glasses frequently in his films as we discussed before, which is why I write about his films so much on here. Most directors don't even think about glasses, especially not in the same way as Hitchcock.
Author Donald Spoto in his book Spellbound by Beauty says:
For Hitchcock, the removal of eyeglasses disclosed a partially
concealed beauty, but the gesture also rendered the wearer vulnerable
and somewhat isolated, removed from the situation, The glasses, in other
words became Hitchcock's modern version of the Venetian mask-a kind of
prop that both concealed and revealed.
This film Strangers on a Train glasses are used in a similar way as Vertigo, they separate the person from the action. They know what is going on, but is not consumed by it like the other characters. However this film is different from the Vertigo theme, glasses became essential to the plot and the removal makes the character more vulnerable than in previous films.
The movie begins with, you guessed it two strangers on a train.
A tennis star, Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and Dandy boy Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), who ultimately is more than just a run of the mill dandy. ( I do love all his suits and shoes, a tie with a lobster printed on it!) They discuss their lives, get to know you stuff. Bruno suggests that they each commit a murder for the other. Bruno has a controlling father, and as Bruno points out to Guy; Guy had a wife who causes trouble.
Guy who was frustrated with his wife Miriam's (Laura Elliott), he began dating Anne Morton (Ruth Roman), who is a daughter of a senator. Bruno read about this affair in the paper. Guy left the train, feeling that Bruno is a little nutty but can't be serious about murder. Guy hardly knows this man, and why would he kill his wife? He may convince her to get a divorce.
He goes to his wife's workplace to convince her to grant him a divorce.
At first, maybe she is a victim of his affair. She dressed plain, wears glasses and works in a place full of books and files. Maybe she is home alone when he is with his glamour girl girlfriend. Then he mentioned she is pregnant by another man. She takes him into a room where they can talk in private.
Wow, all I can say is wow what a femme fatale.
She been cheating on him for a much longer time than he has on her.
And She is not planning to stop any time soon either.
Also she wants all his money.
Geez Louise!
She needs her glasses. She does not ever remove them, yet she uses them to her advantage. Who would suspect her looking at her appearance doing anybody wrong?
I think Hitch had a thing for bad girls as well.
Guy calls his girlfriend, he is very up set and said things he really didn't mean.
Bruno, without Guy knowing, took the train conversation seriously and decided to do his part.
Miriam is out at the fair with her boyfriends, she sees sharply dressed Bruno. At first she is a little flirty with him, and then well, . . . she is dead.
She is not involved with her husband's life. Miriam does what she wants, which means she is unaware of the crazy dandy Guy met on a train. Miriam thought Bruno was fallowing her because he liked her. She thought wrong. Does she deserve to die? No she does not. During the attack her glasses fall off her face. Her most and only Vulnerable moment. Bruno found Guy that night to tell him what happened to Miriam. Bruno had Miriam's glasses to prove it. The situation is too unreal for Guy to do anything about it.
Then Bruno visits Guy during a tennis match, just to remind Guy has to do his end of the bargain.
In comes Anne Morton's (girlfriend) sister Barbara ( Patti Hitchcock, yes the director's daughter, I love Patti). Bruno sees Barbara and is reminded of Miriam, due to that they both wear glasses. Their frames are similar, they both have same hair color and about the same height. The two women are not meant to be identical, the glasses are a reminder.
Bruno can turn on the charm, as you can see. Due to the girlfriend and Barbara not knowing about the train conversation, Bruno gets himself invited to their high society shindig.
At the Shindig Bruno charms some old ladies, and when Barbra enters the room, he becomes haunted again an accidently chokes a little old lady. Anne figures out what is going on and makes Guy tell her everything. "What did Miriam look like?" she asked him, he describes, Anne get flustered "she wore glasses?! she looked like Barbara"
Guy, in deep trouble now; gets two cops to fallow him everywhere. Barbara is very flirty with the one cop.
This is perhaps the most realistic portrayal of glasses I have seen. Neither Miriam, nor Barbra are a nerdy stereotype. They don't sit at home with their books and a multitude of cats and make us feel sorry for them because they don't have a boyfriend. Both are very capable of getting a man's attention. And yes there are some guys who go crazy for a girl who wears glasses (Hitch included), just the media like to tell us otherwise. However neither character is the love interest to the leading man.
This does remind me how some people can also get distracted when the see glasses. Barbara reminding Bruno of Miriam, due to her glasses. There are people that when they see a person wearing glasses, that is all they see- glasses.
I noticed when I show up somewhere with a couple of my female friends who also wear glasses, people would ask if we are all sisters. I used to be mistaken to a former friend of mine all the time, mostly because we both wore glasses. This would annoy me to no end. I just had vintage Dior cat-eye frames that I got my prescription fitted into($$$$) and she had standard rectangle frames.
Also, she was a good foot and half taller then me. I had to look up to see her face, I could never really tell what her hair looked like other than that she'd bleached it. This girl wore really tiny shiny dresses and all my retro dresses and suites covered the majority of my body.
We didn't look alike at all! Yet people would call me by her name.
When guys notice we were actually two people with two completely different names; they would constantly ask me about her. Her glasses and impossibly short dresses got all the dudes. She attracted kinda like Miriam, and I didn't want to be bothered. Especially not by some drunk dude asking if my 'sister' is 'easy'.
My point is some people are oblivious to detail. When there are glasses, all they see are glasses. Bruno could think Miriam and Barbara look alike due to similar glasses, and ignoring the rest, or he could just be somewhat conflicted by what he did and the image Miriam's glasses on the night haunts his mind.
