That old man cracks me up every time I watch this. He's quick to volunteer, ensuring no one else attempts to stop the carousel. Then he takes his sweet fucking time crawling under it, coming to a complete stop just to wipe his nose seemingly without regard for those in peril above him. Then when he finally makes it to the other side of the carousel, instead of saving everybody, he throws one switch and immediately derails the fucking thing - resulting in Bruno's death and probably a few others. The people on that carousel would have had better luck if they tucked and rolled off the damn thing.
I just saw this for the first time last night, and I completely agree. I get that this is supposed to be a suspenseful scene, but I could not stop laughing! Between the mom freaking out about her boy and the boy having a grand old time, to the old man stopping to wipe his mouth/nose, to the close-up shots of the horse's face, I was cracking up.
This scene remains one of Hitch's very best. Taking a family friendly carousel and creating a horrific death trap. And leaving it up to the viewer's imagination just who wound up dead in addition to Robert Walker's character. Sheer brilliance!
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According to Hitchcock, the man crawling under the carousel was a real roustabout. Had he lifted his head, he would have been killed. This movie is rarely seen but one of Alfred's best, I think.
After 67 years, this is still one of the best and most innovative action scenes ever filmed. Brian Depalma aped it shamelessly in "The Fury" in 1978, although the latter is a pretty good thriller in its own right even so, I think.
I remember seeing this scene on television as a small child and being so blown away by the emotion and the speed of the carousel. I was really sad when it ended because I didn’t know what the film was, which would make it hard for me to find the scene again. 10 years later, I have finally discovered that this was from an Alfred Hitchcock film rather than something older and obscure. Strangers on a Train is now high up on my watchlist.
It’s a Merry go Down. Top notch detective work. Civilian casualties kept to a minimum. Certain amount of collateral damage but when the circus comes to town it’s to be expected.
In Britain we used to have a ride rather like this, the Ark. It was like a Music Express/ Himalaya , but you sat astride small horses or motorbikes. Showmen didn't consider them thrilling enough, and so most got converted to our equivalent of the Tilt- a Whirl, the Waltzer.
Are we just gonna gloss over the fact that cop recklessly shot into a crowd of innocent civilians, killing someone and is directly responsible for the ensuing carnage?
Two things I've never been able to get out of my head from this scene, ever since I first saw this movie as a kid: 1. The cop who opened fire on the wrong target on a moving carousel with lots of people on it, killing the innocent conductor, and thus directly causing a crash that caused significant property damage and possibly killed several more people, should go to prison. 2. Holy crap, that old guy is a badass.
I read somewhere that Hitchcock said that if the actor at 1:33 had raised his head slightly while crawling, it would have killed him in a grotesque manner.
This scene completely blew my mind the first time I saw it. Imagine watching that end in a big theatre. Astonishing in it's brilliant editing and multiple ideas. But then Hitch went on to create visually bizarre mind blowing visuals in his later films...the man falling from the Statue of Liberty shot from above with no cuts, and later Jimmy Stewart falling in Rear Window again with not cutting away...it just took the top off your head and all the steam the film had created up to then blew out.
@@sanchezsushi007 There is only one, with Henry Fonda and Vera Miles in 1956. You might be thinking of The Man Who Knew Too Much, which was remade with James Stewart
Awesome scene, a Hitchcock classic. A big part of the beauty of this scene and a many great scenes in cinema is the lack of logic, the absurdity of it. If it was realistic and literal it would be boring. It's the imaginative use of imagery and technique that gives it it's power and drama and makes it so entertaining.
This scene was too absurd and too "Hollywood" for my taste. However, the movie was quite enjoyable up until the last half of the film, which fell flat in my opinion.
JohnWesley Downey, well said. At least you understand the meaning behind that scene, instead of some idiots here shouting about the cops shooting at the carousel and asking why.
Oh my,i never tknew how scary/disturbing this scene would be,especially with all those people screaming and the twisted music playing in the backround. *shudders*
I just saw this scene on a segment from TCM Now I want to see the whole movie. Brilliant use of a childrens ride going berserk! Hitchcock really was a movie genius In reality though a carousel has a governor on it and it couldn't speed up like that even if the operator wanted it to.
Love how the small carousel suddenly looks HUGE on the back projection. By the way, if you look closely you can see the bottom of the back projection screen in between the crowd.
Came to have a look at this after reading Edmund Crispin's 1946 detective novel "The Moving Toyshop" - with its almost identical event which was evidently the inspiration for this scene en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moving_Toyshop
The song at the beginning is “And The Band Played On”. Miriam, the murder victim, sang it earlier in the film when she and two guys were on their way to this same carnival - and I believe it was playing in the background when she was killed. Here it emphasizes that we again are in the same setting, but its lyrics are appropriate too. In spite of the murder and now the increasing terror of the shooting and the dangerous merry-go-round and the potential death of the hero, “the band played on” in cheerfully ironic fashion.
What gets me is that aside from the Farley Granger’s Haynes and Bruno, all the other victims on the Carousel of death are all women and children, which what makes this scene so chilling
Tremendous scene from an excellent film noir. I watched this film in full at 20:50 CET 12/11/2023. I rated it 8.8/10. (Only films in my "Top Ten Movies of All Time" rate above 9.0/10. I have seen over 500 movies in my 57 years on the planet. Cinema is one of my favourite hobbies).
The mechanic who crawled under the moving carousel was a real mechanic who volunteered to do that part. The platform above him was only inches from his head and moving at a considerable speed. Hitchcock said he had nightmares of shooting that scene afterwards about what would have happened had the man lifted his head up just a couple inches too high.
There was a 35mm camera under there too, presumably with an operator and a focus puller. No one ever mentions them being in danger. My guess is that the carousel is much higher than Hitchcock says, and the lens helps compress the distance. Remember, he lied about leaving his daughter alone at the top of a ferris wheel for hours, when in fact she was with two other actors and they were up there for 2-3 minutes ...
This is a great film! The band organ on the carousel, however would not speed up if the carousel revolved faster - and it definitely would not go up in PITCH. That is a blooper in this movie.
Could an American carousel go round at breakneck speed like that if it malfunctioned? Ours in Britain wouldn't, which are powered by electricity, and occasionally steam.
Pea-brained killer-cop detective blasting away with a cop revolver at a distant carousel loaded with terrified children...with absolute impunity! The innocent carousel operator, an old guy, is killed right away, so that the carousel spins faster. The cop just shoots more and faster to compensate. Nobody in movie audiences, no critics anywhere, apparently, ever thought a thing about it. This is the crap in movies that used to make my Daddy have a "stroke" because it was toooo stooopid to endure! And he had no Facebook or RU-vid in which to vent. :(
There’s our man on that kids carousel 🎠 I’ll blast him off that pony! If those darn kids will just get out of the way,,, BLAM!💥 Whoops, sorry pops, but you should have ducked. The calliope crashed to the ground. Kids like, this is the coolest ride ever! Oh the humanity! I can handle it, might need a couple of hours, then I’ll break the controls! That’s it pops,, a little to the left, keep going, easy does it. Couldn’t that young guy do it? No he can’t pull the brake lever. Give me that lighter! No, get your own. Man, they just don’t make ‘em like that any more. This is why they can’t have nice things at the carnival.
