Home video and remakes
- Two cuts, five transfers: preview and theatrical versions issued in ever-increasing quality
- Retrained: Highsmith’s charming psychopath wreaks more havoc in various remakes
- Retreads on radio, small and big screens to be joined by another from top director
- Various spoofs and homages pay twisted tribute to our patricidal antagonist
Note: this is part of an ongoing series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles; any dead links are to those not yet published. Subscribe to the email list to be notified when new ones appear.
Strangers on a Train: Writing on a Classic | Collectors Guide, Pt 2: Home video and remakes
Contents
- Home video
- On the radio
- Once You Kiss a Stranger (1969)
- Remakes
- Related articles
Preserved transfers
UK DVD
- US: 2on1 DVD (1997)
- Canada: 2on1 DVD (1997)
- UK: 2on1 DVD (2001, reissued 2019)
- Italy: 2on1 DVD (2001)
- France: 2on1 DVD (2001, reissued 2006*/2007)
- Spain: 2on1 DVD (2001)
*Single-sided disc w/theatrical version only
The film’s first worldwide DVD release débuted a second, alternative edit that was rediscovered in 1991. But the sleeve misleadingly dubs them the “Hollywood original” and “alternative British version”. In reality, Strangers only ever had one original theatrical release version, both in Hollywood and everywhere else; it’s represented here by a US 1957 re-release print accompanied by the commensurate recycled trailer with amended end credits (2:34). Each cut of Strangers is on either side of a double-sided ‘flipper’ disc with the extras, repeated on both sides, rounded out by a snippet of Hitch newsreel footage (1:08) and brief production notes. The alternative edit is actually a previously unseen preview cut but whichever you prefer at least everyone has a choice, unlike with Universal’s different releases of also multi-version Topaz. The NTSC discs (US, Canada, etc) are less cropped with more detail and grain than the PAL releases; more screenshots of the latter.
Remastered transfers
- US: 2-DVD (2004) and DVD (2011)
- 2/4-DVD/4-film TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: H Thrillers*
- UK: 2-DVD (2004)
- Italy: 2-DVD (2004)
- Germany: 2-DVD (2004)
- France: only in box sets
- Spain: Digibook DVD (2005), also in 3-DVD Colección AH
*Initially two flipper discs, reissued as four singles
The “Two-Disc Special Edition” DVDs have improved transfers of both cuts, now correctly labelled “Preview version” and “Final release version”, although “Theatrical version” would have been simpler. The previous two brief extras recur (though the trailer has been replaced with the remastered 1951 release version) and supplemented by four new featurettes totalling 68 minutes. There’s also an audio commentary featuring contributions from no fewer than 14 voices, including Hitch’s daughter and granddaughter, and archival interview snippets from the man himself. Screenshots: Caps-a-holic, Hitchcock Zone.
Restored transfer
US BD (rear)
Now Showing: worldwide screenings
- Prime Video HD | YouTube | BFI Player
- US: BD (2012)
- Canada: BD (2012)
- UK: BD (2012)
- Italy: BD (2012)
The BDs all have exactly the same content as the Special Edition DVDs but with the “Final release version” in vastly improved HD; the remastered “Preview version” and extras are still in SD. The latter were created in standard resolution and can’t realistically be improved but it’s a pity the secondary version isn’t included in HD; a new scan, stabilisation and basic clean-up could have been carried out at minimal cost. Audio tracks are also variable across the different releases, with some sounding like they have room for improvement.
All of Strangers’ DVDs are region coded, and have varying subs and dubs pertaining to their respective territories. But all Warner BDs are always region free and these identical discs have the same sub and dub options, with eight of the former and seven of the latter: French (alt), German (alt), Italian (alt), Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Castilian) and Spanish (Latin); all in glorious original mono.
Though far fewer than the literally countless bootlegs of Hitch’s British films, there are still many rip-offs. This time it’s anything not from Warner Bros., eg Italy (A&R), South Korea (Cine Korea, Cleo Ent.) and China (Bo Ying).
US 1997/2004 DVD and BD screenshots; PC/TC: preview/theatrical cut.
- Feet: PC 97/04 | TC 97/04, BD
- Glasses: PC 97/04 | TC 97/04, BD
- Duo: PC 97/04 | TC 97/04, BD
- Neck: PC 97/04 | TC 97/04, BD
- Lighter: PC 97/04 | TC 97/04, BD
On the radio
There are two surviving contemporary US radio adaptations but an unavailable, likely lost, curio is BBC Radio’s May 1952 broadcast of a half-hour condensed version of the film, edited directly from its soundtrack and seemingly very similar to the 1970s abbreviation of The 39 Steps released on US LP. It was preceded by an interview with the film’s leads and various other soundtrack excerpts.
- Lux Radio Theatre, December 3, 1951 (56min) script – Ray Milland, Ruth Roman, Frank Lovejoy and Pat Hitchcock; Radio Spirits 6-CD/cass | MP3
- Lux Radio Theatre, April 12, 1954 (47min) – Virginia Mayo, Dana Andrews and Robert Cummings
- BBC Radio 4, 25 January 1996 (58min) – Anton Lesser, Michael Sheen, Saskia Reeves and Bill Nighy; BBC CD/reissue
- Naples Players Radio Theatre, April 26, 2024/alt (64min) – Mark Vanagas and Kenneth Allen
Stephen Wyatt’s excellent play, Strangers on a Film, is not an adaptation of Highsmith’s novel or even Hitch’s film but a dramatisation of life behind the scenes, examining the fractious relationship between Raymond Chandler and the director.
- BBC Radio 4, 29 September 2011 (44min) – Patrick Stewart and Clive Swift
Once You Kiss a Stranger (1969)
Pretty Diana snuggles up to married golf pro Jerry Marshall and suggests they play a more intimate game. Quick as you can say videotape, Diana has blackmail evidence and a chilling demand: I’ll kill your golf rival and you kill my psychiatrist. Carol Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure) headlines a ’60s Malibu Beach version of Strangers on a Train, the classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel about swapped murders. Turning a golf cart and a putter into lethal weapons, Diana upholds her end of their bargain. Now it’s Jerry’s (Paul Burke) turn – or else. Diana really wants her shrink offed. Why? Seems he’s the only one who’s figured out she’s one dangerous psycho. At least, he’s the only one until Jerry hears Diana’s crazy-scary scheme. – Warner DVD-R
- US: Warner DVD-R (2010)
The second official screen adaptation updates Highsmith’s novel and flips the psycho’s sex for a worthwhile spin but doesn’t come anywhere near the original; in this case, the female is less deadly than the male. In the closely-titled TV movie remake from 1996, both protagonists are female but that hasn’t yet surfaced anywhere on home video; unlike similar but unofficial remake TVM Accidental Meeting (1994; teaser, trailer) which also has female leads but a 2015 DVD-R and two VHSs.
Remakes
Hitch and the Remakes – Alain Kerzoncuf
Highsmith’s source has inspired many unofficial remakes, spoofs and homages; perhaps most notably 1971 giallo The Designated Victim (Italian, French) and Danny DeVito-Billy Crystal starrer Throw Momma from the Train (1987, title). Now it looks like being done again properly for the first time in years, as David Fincher’s long-heralded remake for Netflix is finally leaving the station after being delayed for a decade. It’s bound to ruffle the feathers of those who believe original works should be sacrosanct but bear in mind Hitchcock directed seven remakes himself. Personally, I don’t mind the idea at all – let the pearl-clutching ensue! Good stories can bear different interpretations that vary with the times – just look at King Kong – and allow for comparison with the originals. Sometimes they’re good, sometimes bad, but never dull, and it’s not like the old days when originals were often literally suppressed in favour of the remake, as happened with Gaslight.
In this case, it will likely/almost certainly flop anyway, so if they want to waste their money/use it as a tax write-off/whatever, then let them. After all, the 2020 Netflix remake of Rebecca came and went, yet the original is still here and not harmed in any way. If anything, not only do remakes draw renewed attention to the original but almost inevitably suffer adverse comparison, especially in the case of Hitch (Gus Van Sant’s version of Psycho, anyone?) and remind everyone what made the original so good in the first place. If you’re not swayed by any of these arguments, always remember no one’s forcing you to watch any of them and you can continue to live your life as if they never existed.
The Simpsons pays homage to Hitch in “Treehouse of Horror XX“, episode 4 of season 21: although it factors in other films such as Dial M for Murder and Psycho, its springboard and central theme is a murderous pact. There may be no other connection to Hitch’s film than its title but this 1980 single by Australian band The Sports is a perfect slice of power pop – and catchy as hell! But best of the lot has to be the wildly inventive LipService Theatre’s Strangers on a Train Set comedy play from 2019. See them live if you can or at least check out the rest of their videos, such as their parody of Frankenstein.
Strangers on a Train: Writing on a Classic | Collectors Guide, Pt 2: Home video and remakes
Related articles
This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.
