Rope
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Movie Reviews of Rope
Movie Review: Shallowness
Summary: 4 Stars
Although I may not find this film as great as Rear Window, To Catch A Thief, Vertigo, Dial M, or Stage Fright, I can't help finding it compelling, or almost as good as any of the aforementioned Hitchcock film. I haven't seen all the Hitchcock movies, but I hypothesize that this is the only Hitchcock film where you don't have a leading lady along with a leading man. Perhaps, that will explain the lack of success of this Hitchcock film. After all, the great director always had to have a great leading lady and some good romance.
Along with many of his other great films, Hitchcock reveals the shallowness and superficiality of middle-class culture, as revealed by the stupidity of these two pseudo-intellectuals who misread Nietzche, to the chagrin of a person's life. Brandon and Phillip twist the philosopher's words only to cover up what they really wanted to do all along. Shallowness is also shown to us through the party. This party works as a facade. Not only does it work to cover up a crime, but it also shows other cover ups. Why is it that Janet wants to marry David? Is she really in love with him? Throughout her presence, we can see a lot of ambiguity in her words, as well as in her gestures. There is plenty of shallowness and superficiality in the small talk of the guests, especially, David's aunt, whom refers to the horoscope and does some hand-reading to say ironic things (stressing the more on how ignorant is she about what's really going on beneath the surface). Apparently, Rupert is the only character who can read beyond the surfaces, catching the nuances of Brandon's and Phillip's nervous behavior and speech, he makes fun on small talk about the movies by Mrs. Atwater. And one can also read between the lines of his words toward Janet, "Do you deserve justice?"
Following this line of thought, one may argue that the film tries to reveal what is underneath social conventions. A party about books is not really about books; marriages are not about love; Harvard graduates are not different from the average person; and middle-class people are not more intelligent than the maid, who also percieves that something funny is going on. The film begins with an exterior shot, which shows a world of safetiness and order (a cop helps a little boy cross a street). But under this appearance of tranquility, behind the closed curtains, there is something dark and sinister taking place. This beginning serves well as a framework to the film. Interestingly, at the very end, when Rupert makes his discovery, instead of calling the police on the phone, he opens the window and shoots to let the world in the room. The noises, the voices, and all the sounds coming into the room is as if Rupert had broken the distance between the surface and what goes on under it.
Looking at it from this perspective, this film is brilliantly done. And it doesn;t depart from Hitchcock's tradition of works, except for the lack of a leading lady.
Movie Review: Great script, sort of a neglected Hitchcock classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Rope, a thriller from Alfred Hitchcock, is based on the Leopold-Loeb murder case and involves two friends who have an idea of creating the perfect murder. Hitchcock decided to make Rope a bit of an experimental film, filmed with one long set, so there are several pauses where the camera actually goes in back of a character. While this was a unique way to create the film, it does have its advantages. Rope seems to play out almost like a "stage play" in which the camera is still, but characters move around on the set. Much like Rear Window, the setting of the film does not move to other spots, but stays right in the very apartment where the murder was committed. Rope is more a psychological thriller about whether the two men will get caught than whether they actually did it, and it examines what goes through the conscious of those who have killed.
The murder is committed within moments after the opening credits, as the two friends kill David and then put his body in the very spot where people will later gather for a party. Once the murder is committed, the differences of the two men begin to unfold before the audience. Philip is more passive and nervous about what they have done, and clearly he has second doubts as to what they should do or whether they should have done this at all. His motives come from not being caught, and taking the necessary precautions. As the night wanes on, Phillip becomes more and more paranoid about the murder, and the questions he gets asked by his former school master, Rubert Goodell (James Stewart), who knows something is amiss. Brandon, on the other hand, is Phillip's opposite. Brandon is sly, sneaky, and has a malicious and dark humor throughout. He seems to get a "thrill" not only about having committed the murder, but the idea of trying to get away with it, and his callously bold attitude is evidenced as the story unfolds. He cleverly has everything all planned out, and can deflect questions and suspicion with ease. But, will he be able to outwit the equally resourceful Rupert? As more characters show up to the party, things get more and more dicey for the pair, and Rupert smells foul play.
The skill in this film is clearly in a superb screenplay. Some viewers might not like the fact that there is little movement, or "action", but the exceptional feeling of suspense builds as more and more pieces of the puzzle come to light. The script is quite amazing, and leads to a suspenseful "cat and mouse" game between Brandon and Rupert. The last twenty minutes of the film are superbly crafted and written; it is during this part where Hitchcock's genius is evident.
Over all, this is a highly overlooked classic from the master of suspense. The extras included on the DVD include a commentary on the film entitled "Rope Unleashed."
Movie Review: An overlooked masterpiece
Summary: 4 Stars
I was a kid when I first saw ROPE, some 15 years ago. I vividly remembered that scene of the maid cleaning up after the party - the camera nailed down to one spot; just the one view of the maid clearing-off the table/chest, unaware of its ghastly contents. You watch her up close as she picks up plates from atop the chest and then she walks into the distance to the kitchen and then she comes back to us to take more things off the chest and then goes away again, back and forth, again and again, cleaning, working her way closer and closer --- all the while you know what's inside that chest and that, once she clears it off, if she were to look inside...
...and you wait and watch in euphoric agony.
And it was then, all those years ago, watching Rope, watching that scene, I first understood what it was a director did (or at least one of the most important things he does). I understood the director's role in how the story is told - from what the camera reveals and how the images are presented to you. There's an intelligent design behind the unfolding of the story that is a character in itself. It has a tangible personality. And that character is rarely as vivid and forceful than when it's Hitchcock.
I saw Rope for the second time just a few days ago and it is even better than I remembered. But, for me, it's a stretch to believe Jimmy Stewart could or would want to expound upon Nietzschean philosophy. He's exudes too much homespun wholesomeness to be talking about the Übermensch. Gregory Peck might have been a better choice for that role. He can seem dark and brooding while conveying enough inner goodness to keep the audience's affection, if that was the goal in choosing Stewart. James Mason would be even better and that would have made it a very dark picture, but perhaps too dark for the time.
Still, ROPE is Hitchcock using all his powers of suspense and his genius for direction. Notorious, Psycho, North By Northwest and The Birds may get a lot of attention, but this is a film no Hitchcock fan should miss and it is too often overlooked. Also be sure to watch the extras, there is a very illuminating little documentary piece you should see.
Movie Review: Hitchcock Experimenting
Summary: 4 Stars
Following the success of the film "Gaslight", based on a play written by Englishman Patrick Hamilton, Alfred Hitchcock, who had no hand in the making of that film, scheduled a film adaptation of a 1929 play by the same author, "Rope". In each of the plays, suspense is the chief element. In "Rope" we watch a dinner party held in a New York apartment. Two university students, prompted by self-justifying bravado, murder a third. They hide his body in a large chest upon which they then set the food for the guests, all family and friends of the murdered student, to partake.
How to create an 80 minute film set entirely in one New York apartment was challenging. Hitchcock decided to film it in color (his first color film), to present the action in an apparently seamless series of 10 minute "takes", and to start the film with the murder (it had not been included in the play).
Seeing his film in this excellent DVD restoration, it is some of these filming decisions that I have found most interesting. The dialogue may be unnatural, and the cast members uneasy, but the man in charge of filming certainly knew how to build suspense. Especially effective is the ending, when the illuminated advertising signs and the noises from the streets below begin to infiltrate through the windows.
Included in the extras are comments from scriptwriters, a cast member, and Hitchcock's daughter.
Movie Review: "That's the difference between us and other men: they talk about committing the perfect crime, we do it"
Summary: 4 Stars
"Rope", a film based on a play and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is a well-made thriller that entertains the spectator, but that is far from being perfect.
I must say that the story is original, and that the beginning is quite shocking. The two main characters are Brandon and Philip (John Dall and Farley Granger), two young men that commit a crime just to see if they can get away with murder. As if killing another man weren't enough, they decide to tempt fate, hiding the body in a trunk, where it could easily be discovered, and inviting some people to dinner. Their guests include, among others, the victim's parents, his girlfriend and an old schoolteacher that gets increasingly suspicious regarding Brandon and Philip's actions. The schoolteacher (James Stewart) doesn't know exactly what they did, but is certain that something is wrong, very wrong. And of course, he cannot understand why Philip keeps looking at the trunk that is used as a buffet table...
On the whole, I can say that I liked "Rope", even though I wouldn't be overly eager to watch it again. From my point of view, you will also enjoy this whodunnit, specially if you are fond of Hitchcock movies, and don't mind the fact that albeit good, this is not one of his best films.
Belen Alcat
PS: I give "Rope" 3.5 stars...