TRAIN RIDES : A ZEST OF ROMANCE AND MYSTERY

I have always loved movies scenes set on trains, they exude adventure and mistery at once.

Alfred Hitchcock, the master of intrigue, has set some of his most memorable scenes on a  train: Shadow of a Doubt, Number Seventeen, The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on a Train and North by Northwest  prove that the limitations and intimacy imposed on characters by train travel, add a particular dimension to thrill and romance.

In North by Northwest the epitome of sexiness is reached on the first encounter between Eve Kendall ( Eve Marie Saint) and Roger Thornhill ( Cary Grant ) in a train's dining car:

 

Roger Thornhill: The moment I meet an attractive woman, I have to start pretending I have no desire to make love to her.
Eve Kendall: What makes you think you have to conceal it?
Roger Thornhill: She might find the idea objectionable.
Eve Kendall: Then again, she might not.

Watch a scene here!

One of Strangers on a Train's most thrilling scenes is set in Bruno's compartment over lunch, when Bruno ( Robert Walker).tells Guy ( Farley Granger) about his idea for the perfect murder: he will kill Myriam and in exchange, Guy will kill Bruno's father.  A"Criss-cross" murder.

Guy accidentally leaves his cigarette lighter behind, a gift from his soon to be wife Anne, Bruno promptly pockets it.
A fatal act that will later tie the two men until the end...