Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, the first film that the Master of Suspense filmed in Technicolor, has languished in largely undeserved mediocrty since its release in 1948. The film didn’t do well theatrically in the US, and subsequent versions (VHS) were made from terrible-quality originals. Finally, Universal has seen fit to release on DVD a marvelously restored version of a truly delicate film.
Rope, based on a play of the same name, which was in turn based on a actual slay case in 1924, opens with two friends – played by John Dall and Farley Granger – strangling a classmate with a length of rope. The body is then stuffed in a trunk that the two employ as a buffet table during an upcoming dinner party – a party partially in their murdered friend’s honor.
As the movie progresses, the friends’ professor – played exceedingly well by James Stewart in one of his best-acted roles – eventually begins to suspect the crime. As the two students select him in a discussion about Nietzschian philosophy, and specifically philosophy of the ubermensch (overman or superman), Stewart’s character puts two and two together. The tension is so tight you possess your breath for the last half-hour, wondering if Stewart knows, and if he does, what he’s going to do about it – and, more importantly, if he’s in anxiety, too.
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Much has been made of the technical side of the film – Hitch wanted it as conclude to a stage play as possible, and the entire movie has only nine (well-hidden) breaks – as well as the homosexual overtones, but the genuine genius in Rope comes from the acting and direction. As opposed to today’s “roller-coaster hotfoot” action movies, Rope builds slowly, layering tension upon tension until the viewer unprejudiced can’t wait anymore to get out what happens. Anyone can toy with an audience, using special effects, explosions, and speedy cars to develop action, but good suspense – that hourglass feeling of grains of sand building a mountain – takes talent, and Rope readily uses that conclude, thanks largely to the preformances of the three main characters.
In addition, Stewart’s ultimate conclusions on Nietzschian philosophy offer a refreshing step away from those who would indict it solely on the basis of notions (and books) like the Will to Power – people who can peruse no further than the two murderers. Like Hitler and Dall and Granger’s characters, some people cannot contemplate past these passages, often taken out of context from the rest of Nietzsche’s idea. Thankfully, Arthur Laurentis’ screenplay ultimately deals with these ideas in a primitive manner – and shows the horrifying effects of the hubris so many undergraduate-level students acquire when they don’t bother to read and conside Nietzsche in context.
Universal’s DVD is expedient – the recount and sound quality are noble, especially considering it’s been more than 50 years since Rope was filmed. The full-frame presentation isn’t a dilemma, since widescreen movies didn’t exist at the time. The half-hour long featurette offers some involving insights and interviews with a couple members of the cast and crew, and isn’t your usual “so-and-so was expansive” pieces. Hume Cronyn offers some capable – and well-founded – criticisms of both Hitch and the finished product. Also included is Rope’s recent theatrical trailer, a kind of “mini-short” featuring the soon-to-be-murdered lad discussing a marriage proposal with his girlfriend in Central Park, in surprisingly decent quality considering the film’s age.
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If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, or unprejudiced like broad acting and pianowire-tight tension, then you can’t go injurious with Rope.
Based on an right assassinate case and directed by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, Rope tells the chronicle of two very stop, well to do roommates Phillip and Brandon who strangle David, an obsolete school chum, fair for kicks. To further increase the exhilaration of their dastardly deed, the duo judge it exquisite to desecrate the lifeless by placing his body into a chest and serving their dinner party guests a banquet on its decorated top. The guests of honor at this most perverse soirée include their aged prep school professor Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), the kill victim’s parents, his fiancé, and her mature boyfriend. This tapestry provides tension for Phillip as he is nervous about being caught and questions abound as to David’s whereabouts. Interestingly, Brandon feels smug even justified as he views the act of assassinate to be relegated to a acquire noble few.
Rope explores Nietzsche’s view of the “übermensch” or “superman” in which society’s people are divided into two groups. Those who absorb in the concepts of upright and outrageous and behave accordingly are deemed tainted beings and therefore unnecessary. While those who are enlightened enough to realize that one is free to act according to their beget volition because there are no such ancient or external constraints on behavior are deemed marvelous. In this worldview, homicide is justifiable because the intellectually friendly are actually bettering society by eliminating the infamous and their drain on its resources. The narrative comes to a head when Professor Cadell who taught Phillip and Brandon these nihilistic concepts begins to suspect that they practiced what he preached by killing David.
Rope was shot with eight; 10-minute reels to give the illusion of one seamless, continuous engage. This forces the viewer to pay attention to every word and provides an eerie feeling that he/she is a see to the assassinate and is a guest at the dinner party. What also drives the film is its witty if not macabre dialogue that is punctuated with puns, innuendoes and double entendre. It is also animated to stare the professor prefer Phillip and Brandon in the proverbial game of cat and mouse. Likewise, the characters are richly developed and deep.
Rope is Hitchcock’s most underrated and unappreciated film. Which is a shame because I have Rope poses some very arresting questions. Is there sanctity to human life? Are all human beings equal? Is abolish ever justifiable? Is there honest and substandard? Is upright absolutism an musty belief in which only the extinct and slow subscribe? Is a teacher responsible for his/her students’ actions? Ultimately, the viewer must choose.
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