Strangers on a Train (1951), by Alfred Hitchcock, Title Sequence

Opening Sequence of Strangers on a Train (1951) by Alfred Hitchcock

It starts with a very sudden blast of music, surprisingly upbeat for a Psychological Thriller. It is jazzy, to match the style of animation. It's a very abstract design with silhouettes of characters only, leaving them faceless and ambiguous. An animated man struts out, matching the pace of the music, slow and relaxed. The camera follows him, until he is met with another faceless person. This person, however, is white. It contrasts with the first man's dark grey colour and suggests that the white man is the protagonist, and the grey man is the antangonist, dangerous. It shows them meeting very early on in the movie, sitting, conversing even. Getting along, perhaps, to say that the characters are not that different from each other, personality wise, that they think alike.

The blinds on the windows of the 'Train' that they're on are used as an abstract transition to the large words "(In) Alfred Hitchcock('s)" written in a bold red against dull grey. Both 'H's then start to run down the screen, in red, looking extremely similar to blood rolling down the screen, but, like the rest of the sequence, in more of a nonfigurative way, leaving it up to the viewer's interpretation. These are used to link the name up to the film, as the lines form two letters in the title.

Lines appear to form train-tracks, which immediately informs us of the setting, though we already knew from the title of the film. These train-tracks lead into a dark tunnel, which could represent the scene where the film takes a turn to the dark side. Leading straight into the tunnel brings us back to the two ambiguous characters in a relaxed setting, still, perhaps, getting along.

Further in, the white faceless man stands and walks out, and the grey man opens the blinds to show what is clearly a city-scape, which gives us more information on where this is taking place; in a busy city. This time, we see the white man strolling through the city, a white woman walking towards him. Their matching colours shows that they are clearly connected in some way. They shake hands, get to know each other, and the grey man appears on the other side of the scene. The white man continues on his way and the white woman drops dead and becomes a grave. We suddenly know that the white man is the actual killer and, perhaps, the grey man witnessed it.

The sequence gives us no more information, however it did just summarise the beginning of the film. Hitchcock did this on purpose, so that we know what is coming, and we want to know more, and we can find out by watching the film. The music gives nothing away expect perhaps type of setting the film takes place in, a big, american city.