This film revolves around professional tennis player Guy Haines where he meets a wealthy man named Bruno Anthony on the train. Soon after, Bruno proposes to 'get rid' of someone who must 'exchange' the murders, and in the end it will be a nuisance and they will not be caught.
Hitchcock erects a web of guilt around Granger, who 'agreed' to his wife's murder, a murder that suits him very well, and structures his film around a series of set pieces, ending with a paroxysm of violence on a circus carousel.
Arguably one of Hitchcock's masterpieces, this intrguing film deals with all the autuer's issues, including the double motif, moral ambiguity, fine line between hero and villain.
Given a good basis for a thriller in the Patricia Highsmith novel and a first-rate script, Hitchcock embroiders the plot into a gripping, palm-sweating piece of suspense.
Winds up with a scene in which a merry-go-round goes wild, spins like a pin wheel, and crashes in a gaudy blaze of explosions that no earthly carrousel could touch off. The movie itself is the same way: implausible but intriguing and great fun to ride.
