Review of Rope (1948) by Ivan D — 01 May 2010

'Murders" in Hitchcock films were usually accompanied by logical motivations, but here in "Rope", it was done for the sake of quenching some sociopathic thirst and unguided philosophical beliefs.

The two partners in crime might as well be the tamer models of the two white-clad sociopaths in Michael Haneke's "Funny Games", although the latter has completely no remorse of their actions.

Just as how the two "intelligent" fellows carried out their experiments regarding the art of murder, Hitchcock was doing some technical experimentation of his own in the directorial chair, and it is to achieve in making a film that is only composed of one continuous shot.

You hear the words, "one continuous shot", though of course, there's some cinematic sleight of hands(the sudden zooming to suit fabrics) to create such illusion. James Stewart here, although the protagonist, has since left his 100 percent "good guy" persona, determined to crack his students' little game, but also the one who had unconsciously created such monsters with his superficial philosophies.

Hitchcock also used effects from neon lights, just as how he did in "Vertigo", but instead of creating out of it an enigmatic glow, he gave the neon lights great effect as if its bright red color is piercing more and more into the scene, until the final moments where the three main characters were completely covered by the blinking crimson lights.

"Rope" is one of cinema's great technical achievements, though certainly one of the master's lesser-lauded works.