Review of Rope (1948) by Familiar S — 16 Jan 2012

It's way too loosely based on the Leopold-Loeb case. But that doesn't make the movie any less interesting. I felt it a bit slow at the beginning, but soon I found myself enjoying the party. Hitchcock's touch of Psycho is apparent here. Or is it only me? One way or another, John Dall is incredibly superb as Brandon. The dialogues are so well-written that they succeed to linger in your memory. The thrills and chills, accompanied with humor, were excellent, and it'd have made for a perfect murder had Hitchcock not stepped back on Rupert's character. That was the only disappointing factor in this otherwise perfect entertainer.

ADD-IT: On watching again, I feel that I was wrong about Rupert. Taking some details into account, I feel that Rupert didn't really mean what he said. But then his response, "The humor was unintentional" to David father's interruption to their discussion about murder (saying that he did not appreciate the morbid humor) confuses me. His response towards the ending after finding out the reality wasn't convincing enough. Wish they'd a better climax in mind.