Review of Rope (1948) by Mark S — 28 Aug 2009

One of Hitchcock's most underrated films, and his first in colour. Hitch wasn't entirely successful in its execution, but that's only really as the technology of the day couldn't match his groundbreaking idea for a single continuous shot.

As it is, the film is broken up into ten long shots, which is still extremely rare even today. It is also unusual to have a film stay in a single setting, and for that setting - an apartment - to be filmed in such an interesting way.

The walls of the set were on rollers and could be moved out of the way to make room for the camera, so filming wasn't hindered by the confines of a single, unchangeable space. The story itself is an examination of the troubling theory of Ubermensch, and shows that there is a huge difference between theorising over such concepts and acting them out.

It's clear that even though the Second World War had ended three years prior to this film being made, the Nazis and their policies were still in Hitchcock's thoughts. It's noticable that from the onset of war (perhaps even from the time Hitler became Fuhrer in 1934) to Hitch's death over 40 years later, he regularly explored the theme of murder and the motivations behind it.

Seeing as his pre-1934 films are often not in a similar vein to this, I wonder whether war and the concept of supposed superiors killing their inferiors had a profound effect on Hitchcock. This is probably the film in which he most blatantly explores the theme, and therefore is an important one to watch when trying to understand Hitchcock's motivations.