Review of Rope (1948) by Stuart E — 28 Oct 2009

Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rope' is a unique picture in its own right and proves that you don't need today's modern technology to add originality to film. As well as being Hitchcock's first colour picture and the first from his new production company, Transatlantic Films, he also manages to provide a new refreshing and imaginative way to make movies.

This 80 minute picture consists of only 7 cuts giving us 10 minutes of 'stage work' if you like between each cut. It's both refreshing and inspiring to see actors performing on screen without the interruptions of unnecessary cuts, something I'd like to see a lot more of in films today.

James Stewart plays 'Rupert Cadell' a prep school headmaster who is invited to a dinner party at the apartment of two of his former students. John Dall and Farley Granger play students 'Brandon Shaw' and 'Philip Morgan', extremists who have taken the teachings of their former headmaster to the next level by killing a colleague whom they consider to be an inferior member of society.

They hide the body in a large trunk in the living room and decide to serve the food from it, an attempt at putting the final piece of the puzzle to their masterpiece. What they don't account for is the prying of Cadell who is suspicious at the non-arrival of the victim who's supposed to be at the party. As Morgan begins to fall apart Cadell focuses in on his suspicions thus leading to Cadell discovering the masterpiece.

Hume Cronyn's adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play does succeed in keeping you interested whilst successfully probing Nietzsche's theory of a 'superman', but there are area's where the story falls flat, hence its failure at the box office. The ending is a little of an anti-climax also but you have to admire Hitchcock's vision here and wonder why directors don't attempt to recreate this type of movie-making today.