A brilliant film, which ushered in Hitchcock's perhaps greatest decade after slipping a little bit in the late 40s. Hitchcock is known as a visual director, but note how the first segment of the film is all talk - excellent talk, too, though, important exposition, how else would you do it, put over by some top dialogue and the top notch acting of Robert Walker. Walker was so good in this film, one wonders what his next ten years would have been like as an actor, playing villains (he wasn't bad in My Son John either) - he's like Fred MacMurray, likeable enough as the boy next door but on a whole other level playing evil. Farley Granger is good, too - Granger doesn't get much good press probably because he was built up a fair bit when launched and didn't come through, but as David Shipman said he had a neat line in wealthy weaklings, and his weakness works here - Walker always seems on top of him. Pat Hitchcock adds spice as Ruth Roman's sister - note the use of her as an exposition device, spelling out the situation by making it humourous. The murder sequence of Granger's wife is thrilling, ditto the climax on the merry go round. The end is unbearably suspenseful: the lighter in the drain, the tennis match. My main gripe - if Granger has to finish the game early, why doesn't he throw it instead of trying to win quickly?
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