Rope (1948)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: James Stewart
Runtime: 80 min
Rating: * * * * *
Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope is clear evidence of his artistic genius. Shot in continuous ten-minute takes (except for two cuts), the level of choreographic precision and technical mastery is stunning.
The entire film takes place in one apartment, as Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) murder their friend and host a party with the corpse locked inside a chest.
Hitchcock’s stylistic virtuosity dominates the film. With the action confined to one location, the camera becomes critical in maintaining and accelerating tension. The camera often becomes more important than the characters, focusing upon the chest for example, as Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier) prepares to place some books inside whilst the other characters chat off-screen. Hitchcock grants us a position of privileged insight, exposing minute details as the plot begins to unravel. The camera dollies in on Philip, when, mistaken for the deceased Kenneth, he shatters a wineglass in his hand. Similarly, when Rupert (Jimmy Stewart) finally works out what is going on, the audience does too, as the camera zooms in on the initials inside the dead man’s hat. The film has been criticised for its ludicrous acting and shamelessly punning script: “I hope you knock ‘em dead” and “I could strangle you” spring to mind. Certainly, Hitchcock’s technical mastery allows viewers to overlook such inconsistencies – yet the ridiculousness of the film is part of its appeal. This was also one of the first films to deal with homosexuality (however subtly) with the murderers involved in a peculiar sexual quadrangle, involving themselves, the deceased man and former teacher Rupert. Dall’s performance suggests sexual gratification through murder, a far darker premise than that of Psycho. Rope is a brilliantly self-contained thriller, as tense and exhilarating a cinematic experience as anything produced in the past half-century.
