queer film • jersey city

Several of you have suggested Alfred Hitchcock films, so for our September 9th meetup we will discuss Strangers on a Train starring bisexual heartthrob, Farley Granger, in one of his personal favorite roles. This 1951 film from Hitchcock’s “golden era” uses the director’s most classic cinematic techniques. Look for his signature camera angles, cross-cutting edits, and suspense-building sequences as you watch the movie.

This also gives us a chance to discuss the Hays Code and its effect on Hollywood from 1934 to 1968. Officially the Motion Picture Production Code, it was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of objectionable content applied to movies produced by major Hollywood studios. Homosexuality, labeled “sex perversion” by the Code, was especially taboo. Hitchcock detested the Code and was seen as the “loophole master” in working around it. He considered homoeroticism and repressed desire a useful and provocative tool to create unease and psychological tension.

Try to imagine yourself sitting in a darkened theater as an LGBTQ person watching Strangers on a Train unfold for the very first time in 1951. What would be your immediate impressions, your emotions? Which character is coded as being gay and what are Hitchcock’s clues?

Watch the Strangers on a Train on Apple TV and Prime Video. The 720p version is free with ads on Tubi, or without ads on Internet Archive.