MovieChat Forums > Strangers on a Train (1951) Discussion > The ending doesn't make sense to me

The ending doesn't make sense to me

posted 11 years ago by Hoekkie
5 replies | jump to latest

Bruno wants to go back to the crimescène on the island to lay down the lighter.
He wants the police to believe that Guy murdered Miriam.
How is that possible?
The body of Miriam has already been found. So the whole island (which is little) has been investigated for clues and proof.
I think it will be very suspicious if there suddenly is proof on the island.
They will know that somebody put it there afterwards.
And how must the police find the lighter? They are not investigating the island.
And there is a lot of tourism on the island.

[–] WoodCheese 11 years ago

Police and the law was dumb back in the day. They wouldn't even consider DNA test results as a proof that a child belongs to a certain person.

Bruno said while dying that he didn't have the lighter. Police chief standing next to him said to Haines something along the lines: "There's no point in searching his pockets because he already said that he hasn't got the lighter". That's pretty much how the law system worked back then.

[–] CharlesTheBold 11 years ago

The actions of the police aren't very intelligent in this movie. First they treat the suspect with kid gloves, then they shoot so wildly that they wound an innocent bystander, at the carousel. I read that Hitchcock took the "runaway carousel" and the "trading murders" idea from separate stories, so that may explain why they don't fit together.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jrl0726 11 years ago

You're forgetting that Bruno is nuts. Crazy people can be devious and cunning but also, irrational and delusional which may lead to self destruction. He assumed he was going to succeed no matter what.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]