Strangers on a Train (1951)

Strangers on a Train kicked off a golden era of work that would go on to include Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, North by Northwest, and Psycho. The subject matter is perfect for Hitchcock's mix of suspense and jet-black humour. The director packs the film with imagery, themes and great set pieces.

Bruno Antony (Robert Walker) reckons he has devised the perfect crime. While traveling on a train, he meets tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger). Bruno suggests the two strangers each agree to kill someone the other person wants gone. For Bruno, this means his hated father, and for Guy his wife Miriam, who will not grant him the divorce he craves to marry Anne Morton (Ruth Roman), the beautiful daughter of a U.S. Senator. Guy balks, but Bruno goes ahead and bumps off Miriam anyway. When Guy refuses to carry out his half of the bargain anyway, Bruno decides to frame Guy for the murder.

Strangers on a Train had a bumpy conception. Hitchcock fell out with the original screenwriter Raymond Chandler after a clash over their working styles. Hitch liked brainstorming sessions; Chandler preferred to be left alone to get on with the writing. Also, Hitchcock was not happy with being forced to cast the rather staid Granger and Roman, which was the price he paid for getting Walker.

It was a price worth paying because Walker creates one of my favourite screen villains. Intense, manipulative, but also vulnerable. Bruno starts off seeming to be in total control of the relationship between Haines and himself. This focus on his target is summed up in one image. Bruno sits in a crowd of people watching Guy play tennis. The heads of the crowd move from left to right as they follow the ball, but Bruno stays locked onto his target.

But the cracks start to show in his facade, and events being to spiral out of his control. A lighter stolen from Haines forms part of a plot to frame the tennis star for murder. But when Bruno loses the lighter down a drain, it becomes symbolic of his increasing desperation. The lighter almost feels like a magical object. If Bruno has it, he has some form of control over Guy.

The main recurring theme throughout the film is that of mirror images. This occurs in the main characters, as Bruno can be read as a Jungian shadow of Guy. It is in the editing, with the opening montage showing the two main characters heading to the train. They walk in opposite directions, but are otherwise indistinguishable. And the final scene mirrors the opening one, with a stranger inquiring "Aren't you Guy Haynes"? In this case, it is a harmless vicar. There are many more which reveal themselves with repeated viewings.

There are also other standard Hitchcock tropes. The police are portrayed as pig headed, stupid and unhelpful. It is left for Anne to do the bulk of the legwork to try and prove Guy's innocence.

The film also has a streak of jet-black comedy running through it. There is the knowing easy banter between Guy and the cop sent to tail him. And Pat (daughter of Alfred) Hitchcock plays Anne's sister, a character hilariously obsessed with the gory details of crime. In yet another mirror image reference, she becomes the focus of Bruno's unsavoury attention, as she bears an uncanny resemblance to Guy's late wife.

The Thing from Another World (1951)

The Thing from Another World is an entertaining mix of Cold War paranoia and Howard Hawks machismo.

The plot is based on "Who Goes There?", a short story by John W. Campbell. A group of scientists and US Air Force crew unearth a frozen flying saucer and its pilot near to their Arctic base. Unfortunately for them, the pilot has thawed out, is on the hunt for blood, and is impervious to their bullets.

There has been some confusion over who directed this film. Christian Nyby is the man on the credits, but. Howard Hawks, whose production company made the film, has often been mentioned as being the real talent behind the lens. Regardless of how true any claim is, there are some Hawks-like tropes, most noticeably in the rapid and overlapping dialogue.

In the original short story, the alien is a shape-shifter, imitating the characters, and causing tension and paranoia. In this version, it becomes a vegetable-based humanoid (memorably described as "an intellectual carrot"), immune to bullets and needing blood to regenerate. But there is still tension in the conflict between scientists and the military. The character of Dr Carrington in particular is shown as, if not an enemy, then at least a threat by wanting to reason with the creature rather than set it on fire. This makes a change from other sci-fi films of the era. Scientists are usually portrayed as the only people with the answers, working with or trying to keep the military in check.

Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)

The swashbuckler is a film genre almost as old as cinema, and while not one of the best examples, Captain Horatio Hornblower RN is still an entertaining film. A meandering and occasionally sluggish script is compensated for with great special effects, exciting battle sequences, lush Technicolor, and an endearing performance from Gregory Peck as the stern but fair title character. It is also easy to see the influence of Hornblower on one famous sci-fi saga.

Combining elements of three of C S Foresters Hornblower novels, the plot sees the Captain, his ship and crew on a secret mission to Central America during the Napoleonic wars at the turn of the 19th century. Hornblower find himself battling not just the Kings enemies, who change according to the whims of politics, but tragedies at home, and the unwelcome appearance of a woman on his ship

By using three books, seemingly unconnected, it does mean the plot often lacks a single driving force, with the main focus being on the character of Hornblower himself, who comes across as a man of integrity and intelligence, a stoical man who always does his duty, but certainly not a martinet, or a macho show off. However, his stiff upper lip becomes a barrier, meaning we never really get inside the mind of Hornblower.

Director Raoul Walsh usually made more contemporary, and more land based films, which might explain why it never feels like he gets totally to grips with the genre and the setting. However, when the action does kick off it is first rate, with exciting battle sequences, backed up with excellent special effects, a stirring musical score from Robert Farnon and lovely rich looking Technicolor.

Gregory Peck plays Hornblower with a relatively understated authority, rather than the brash machismo of someone like Errol Flynn, and his charisma help keep your attention through the slower parts of the film. The main stand out in the supporting cast is James Robertson Justice as Quist, the seaman who helps Hornblower escape capture by the French. Although better known to me as the demanding surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt in the "Doctor" films with Dirk Bogarde, he certainly brings a more down-to-earth quality to the character of Quist, and would go on to head out to sea with Peck in Moby Dick and The Guns of Navarone. Also, look fast for a cameo from a young and just about recognisable Christopher Lee, as a Spanish naval captain.

As a footnote, I had not realised the extent of the influence of Hornblower on the creation of Star Trek. The basic premise of a ship, its captain and crew, far from home, being plunged into dramatic situations (often with a military or diplomatic background) is easily transposed into outer space. While Kirk is perhaps more macho (and more of a ladies man) than Hornblower, both are bold, decisive men of action, and both have loyal first officers, and, in this film at least, cantankerous ship’s doctors.