one would have expect hitchcock return to major studio filmmaking to err on the side of chastened caution . surely few expect his most riotous and unrestrained film and a gleeful melange of vicious black comedy and exciting suspense and mock manipulation and and astonish flight of fancy . but that be precisely what they get represent stranger on a train . what be remarkable be how much bruno transgression disrupt the world of the film . much have be make of the masterly crosscutting motif and but it immediate effect be to completely obstruct the straight line of progress guy be make of his life and and hence the society he represent or be eager to join . guy be the archetypal american and the working class boy make good and move in influential circle and athletic and successful and handsome . bruno be his destructive opposite and gay and decadent and european ( he live off his father and in a big house and and just lounge about dreaming of murder ) . bruno life be one of repetition and circularity and whereas guy move straight ahead . it be bruno achievement to move guy into his realm ( represent by the merry go round ) and force him to transgress ( break the law and hope for murder ( bruno ) ) . bruno be quite literally fight patriarchy . all the authority figure in the film be criticise bruno father and a man whose brutality we get a glimpse of and but the true horror of which be constantly allude to in the film ( especially in aunt clara painting that incredibly intense negative energy must come from somewhere ) while anna incredibly machiavellian and self serve father while the insensitive judge who think nothing of lunching after an execution while the tennis commentator whose smugly authorative comment be always mistake . far from be the mother hater of legend and hitch and a robin wood perceive and be deeply hostile to father and patriarchy . bruno transgression turn the world topsy turvy . this be hitch most surreal film . whenever guy be in his plot and he be film straight and with conventionally romantic music . but whenever bruno intrudes and the atmosphere become carnivalesque and bizarre and much more fun . this be hitch first truly american film and revelling in the primitive detritus of americana . grow men puncture little boys balloon and or try to throw them off merry go round . distinguish professor of mathematics sing about goat on train . elderly society matron be strangle at elegant soiree . washington be film like a series of spare line in a vast desert under a huge sky and like a haunting dali painting . there be one of the great and and funny and scene in all cinema when we see a motionless and smile bruno in a sea of turn head at a tennis match and an image worthy of magritte . just look at any scene with bruno in it and and watch it derail into the bizarre . phallus abound in the most ridiculous permutation check all those balloon ( hitch have obviously just see the third man ) as well a in more staid environs represent washington will never look the same again . stranger be also and vertigo notwithstanding and hitch most overtly sexual film as well a the phallus and there be the sustained homoeroticism and the remarkable play with rid horse while the gobsmacking fellatio joke when hitch daughter spill powder over the policeman . and yet hitch doesn not stint on good old suspense . in the very proper endeavour to show what a great artist he be and critic tend to overlook what make him famous in the first place . much have be make of bruno a a prototype of norman bates and and hitch play merry havoc on audience identification and willing bruno into murder . there be a hilariously painful sequence where bruno lose the lighter with which he intend to frame guy down a drain . the gasp of tension and sigh of relief on the part of the audience i be a part of in support of an insane murderer be inherently funny and slightly disturb and and highly reveal about our true reaction to conformity and success . and hitch milk it with callous glee listen to the mocking music and exagerrated composition and and kick yourself for take it all so seriously . stranger be one of hitch five best film and and therefore one of the great thing in cinema . the dialogue be so strange and brilliant and i can not believe it wasn not write by chandler . patricia hitchcock be a wonderful imp and standing in for her cheeky father a she taunt guy . the fairground finale be a remarkable and dizzying fusion of excite and tense set piece and black comedy and symbolic site . if bruno final word condemn him to hell ( accord to the catholic precept hitch be suppose to embody represent compare with a similar end in the killer ) and we applaud his integrity and infinitely preferable to guy debased serving of self .