Review of Rope (1948) by Robben M — 28 Jul 2009

An amazing film. Why?

Five words: eighty-minute film in ten shots.

Before RUSSIAN ARK, there was.....ROPE!

Based off a stage play by Patrick Hamilton, the story is nonetheless based off the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case, where two homosexual students decided, just to see if they could get away with it, to murder someone.

In their case, they randomly picked fourteen yeard old Bobby Franks. They were both eventually caught because of their own arrogance.

There is a similar plot to ROPE.

In Rope, two students, played by John Dall and Farley Granger, randomly strangle David, a fellow student, in their apartment for no discernible reason other than because they could. Brandon (John Dall) informs Phillip (Granger) that there is to be party in a few minutes and thus they must proceed with the rest of the plan: hide in the body in the chest, and still continue with the party as if nothing had ever happened.

Phillip is still reeling from shock, which Brandon remains smug and arrogant, clearly getting off on the whole thing. He even invites David's father and aunt.

But things get interesting when Brandon decides to "improvise" by moving the dinner set-up onto the very chest where the body is hidden.

What happens for the rest of the film is somewhat of an interesting case of both great acting and amazing camera choreography that, despite the astoundingly long takes, still remains interesting.

The actual events that occur is a mixture of interesting philosophical debates between an insane killer who believes himself to be ultimately superior to all those below him, and a fellow teacher (James Stewart) that, at first, finds the idea titillating but ultimately rebukes his beliefs in such a world. There are moments of tension even though the film takes place in one apartment.

Throw in there the fact that the film was shot in Technicolor. Technicolor cameras were massive, like mini cars floating around in metal boxes to keep out the sound.

The fact the film is completely choreographed to movement as opposed to editing is downright mind-boggling.

It becomes more crazy when one learns that Hitchcock decided to reshoot a good a chunk of the latter half simply because he noticed that the artificial sunset that was occuring throughout the film looked wrong.

Yikes.

As before, the film is filmed in essentially ten shots. In any case, Hitchcock attempts to keep the feeling of real-time fresh by masking almost all of the cuts. He does this by usually moving into someone's back, at which point the entire screen goes black and thus, a hidden cut occurs. The camera pulls back and here we go.

Instead of labeling the film a thriller, it's more of a black comedy with moments of drama thrown in. Really, the entire party becomes downright farcical as people begin to wonder where David is (Brandon decided the coup-de-grace was to invite the vicitim himself) and the body is still in the chest they just ate on. Also, there is some tension between Granger and Dall, which can be interpreted as homoeroticism.

Take for example, the opening scene, right after the murder. Bradon lights up and gives a sigh of relief. And then he smiles.

Not only is the scene entirely creepy, but also rather sexual. Look at this way: lighting-up after a good night of smoking hot sex. Or maybe it's because Dall was actually gay. And Granger was perhaps bi-sexual. And it is, after all, based off Leopold and Loeb, who were gay. In any case, the tension is there, regardless of subtely.

Stewart as the darkly funny professor of the two students is memorable, especially in his sudden dark turn at the end, where he delivers a great speech that has to be seen to be believed.

The film also has no soundtrack, except for music at the beginning and then the end. Everything is meant to simulate a feeling of someone peeking into one night, in one apartment. We are the witnessess, after all, and what else does Hitchcock enjoy than showing us the taboo and horrible?

ROPE is a great film. I say film, not play. Despite its feeling as a stage play, it really doesn't turn out that way. Hitchcock has crafted an incredibly bold movie that runs on rails and the studio crane. Say what you want about the film, I still can't get over that.

Hitchcock is officially crazy awesome.