Rent Rope (1948)

Impediment Thriller (Spoiler). - Rope review by Steve

Alfred Hitchcock's first colour film is an adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play based on infamous real life killers Leopold and Loeb. It is one of the director's impediment films, set entirely within a single apartment in long edits of about eight minutes, joined by screen wipes. There is the illusion of a single 80 minute shot.

At the end of WWII, Hitch filmed footage in a concentration camp for the UK government and when he made it into a short film, he used long edits so hostile observers couldn't suggest he had changed the truth of these places through montage. He adopted this aesthetic for Rope.

Some feel the idea is gimmicky. James Stewart called it a film about the camera. But it still works as an exciting thriller. The searching camera and claustrophobic interior suits the theme; the exposure of sociopaths indoctrinated by eugenics who kill someone they consider inferior. It's a reflection on Nazi Germany.

While Rope is remembered for the original and complex staging, it is Hitch's most philosophical film. The script is analytical though still dramatic and exciting. Like in the climax when Stewart fires shots out of the window and we hear the sounds of strangers coming to help, who contrast with the elitist intellectual solipsism of the murderers.

Something in the Chest - Rope review by griggs

Second time around, I can see the cleverness in Rope. Warming to it is taking longer.

Rewatching, I see Rupert as a man whose dinner-party theories have come home with a body attached. Brandon took his old housemaster’s philosophy literally. John Dall is terrific, all nerve and theatrical smirk, while James Stewart seems to have wandered in from a warmer, more ordinary film.

The chest steals the show. A corpse lies under the buffet while guests help themselves to supper, and Mrs Wilson slowly clearing it is the best suspense in the film, patient and horribly quiet. It’s more effective than the hidden cuts, which jolt me out every time someone’s jacket fills the screen.

My problem is the company. Brandon is monstrous, Phillip crumbles, and the guests are furniture with drinks. The apartment is so sealed off it could be hovering above Manhattan.

Even so, the ending drops the pose and lets the murder turn ugly. I understand Rope better this time. I’m still not sure I’d stay for dinner.

Poor Acting - Rope review by JD

The subject matter is unpalatable. 2 men feel that they are of such superior intellect that they can murder an inferior man without moral impeachment. There may be generalisations relevant today but this awkward subject matter requires good acting of which this film is lacking. James Stewart is the exception but it takes more than one to keep a film going.