Strangers on a Train: 75th Anniversary!

Paramount and Stateside Theatres are bringing Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train back to the big screen on Wednesday, July 29, as part of the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series. It's the 75th anniversary of the original 1951 release, and the screening is in black and white, just as it first appeared.

If you haven't seen it, Strangers on a Train is a quintessential Hitchcock thriller. Two strangers meet on a train, and each admits there's someone in his life he wishes would just disappear. One of them suggests they exchange murders—both men kill the other's intended victim, so neither has a motive that links him to the crime. It's a tidy plan on paper, but things start to go downhill from there. The film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Robert Walker.

The screening is part of the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series, which runs throughout the season at the Paramount Theatre on Congress Avenue. The Paramount has stood in downtown Austin for over 100 years; built in 1915, it's the city's oldest surviving theatre and a City and State Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's also one of the few remaining 'hemp houses' in the country. Beyond the summer classics, it's home to Austin's red-carpet film premieres and plays a role in SXSW and the Austin Film Festival, and it hosts the Moontower Comedy Festival. The theatre operates alongside the State Theatre next door under The Austin Theatre Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Strangers on a Train plays Wednesday, July 29, at the Paramount and Stateside Theatres in downtown Austin. Tickets are available through the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series.