John Dall, Farley Granger, James Stewart

Two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime.

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9,821 ratings

PG, 81 min.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Date: August 23, 1948

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DVD Release Date: March 6, 2001

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  • September 3, 2009
    "The power to kill can be just as satisfying as the power to create"

    Two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime.

    ...( read more)REVIEW
    As far as Hitchcock films go Rope is one of his more mellow ones but is still very interesting. Based upon the case Leopold and Loeb, it is about two young friends who strangle a man for just a curious thrill-kill. Afterwards, they put his body in a chest. Expecting guests over to the apartment for a party, one of them thinks it would be a hoot to serve food off the chest with the corpse inside. They proceed with the party while one of the guests (James Stewart) begins to grow suspicious due to the behavior of the two boys. This film is 81 minutes long, and consisting of ten to fifteen minute long takes at a time with out cutting. The camera follows the actors around the apartment throughout the film as they keep up interesting conversations. The ending is quite suspenseful. Definitely a memorable classic and just another reason why Hitchcock is the master!
  • May 4, 2009
    Another great Hitchcock film! Shot mainly in one location, with what appeared to be seemless filming, the characters are well developed and the plot provides great suspense. The storyline also demonstrates a thin line between theory and practice.

    A comical role for Jimmy Stew...( read more)art and without a doubt one of Hitchcock?s best.
  • April 20, 2009
    This single scene movie is really just a play filmed carefully through the narrow window of a camera. The story borrows heavily from the infamous Leopold and Loeb case where the murders believed they were superior Nietzschean supermen.
  • March 18, 2009
    Two upper class intellectuals plan the "perfect" murder of an old school friend for the sheer thrill of it and hold a dinner party for his friends and family with the corpse hidden within the room. Rope is most famous for its "one shot" conceit as the story takes place entirely w...( read more)ithin the same room, Hitchcock concealing (albeit somewhat clumsily) the cuts between reels. I feel however that is the least interesting aspect of the film, as the ideas expressed within, the sharp dialogue and Hitch's usual ability to crank up the tension are the real reason why it works. Hitchcock plays with the audience, placing us in the room with characters, they and their conversations even being demoted to off-screen from time to time as he constantly reminds us of the foul deed that could be discovered at any moment. When recreating the murder, he uses nothing as crude as flashbacks; he entices the audience to relive it through vicarious imagination. The story is told entirely through the verbal sparring of the party guests, Jimmy Stewart being the perfect casting choice as their old schoolmaster who begins to suspect something is afoot, his image as Capra's morally upstanding man of the people is given a different spin within this macabre situation. Here, he is the cynical misanthropist shown the logical conclusion of his contempt for "inferior" humanity and the concluding speech when faced with his grim discovery is electrifying. Hitchcock made a few anti-Nazi propaganda pieces for the war effort, and this contempt for intellectual arrogance and self-superiority and its inferred fascistic overtones echoes the sentiment of those films. This strong moral message and taut story telling make for a gripping thriller that although a little stagy, still packs a thought provoking punch.
  • January 25, 2009
    Rope is another of Alfred Hitchcock's experiments and he actually pulls off three in this one. The first is that this film is shot like a stage play with the only cuts being when the film ran out in the camera. The second is that it's his first Technicolor film. And third, this i...( read more)s one of the first big films that dealt with an extremely veiled and hidden topic like homosexuality.

    Rope is about Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) who kill their friend David (Dick Hogan) in the opening minutes of the picture (Ironically Hogan gets more screen time in the trailer than in the actual film). Rope is one of those rare early films where the killers don't kill for any real particular reason. It's mainly a social experiment to them. The pair are sick, mainly Brandon who sees the murder as an aristocratic right. The superior should be able to murder the inferior.

    Add into this sick foray that they decide to have a dinner party right after the murder. If you didn't think it could get any worse they invite the victims father and aunt (Cedric Hardwicke and Constance Collier), the victims fiance Janet (Joan Chandler), the victims former best friend Kenneth (Douglas Dick), and their former headmaster who appears to be the inspiration for this sick game Rupert Cadell (James Stewart). The party moves on with a few hiccups and the constant puns about death, murder, dying, and strangulation that continual make our two sick boys very nervous, causing Rupert to suspect that something is going on, he just can't figure out what.

    Rope isn't Hitchcock's greatest films by no means. The gimmick of a film shot in real time was great and real lets suspense build as Brandon and Philip continue to test fate for 90 minutes. The problem is Hitchcock's other gimmick- the long shots. It's not the long shots themselves that kill the film, it's the way that each new can of film segues into another. Close ups on back with dark suits and such continually interrupts the film, not allowing it to flow like a stage play as Hitchcock intended. Hitchcock still gives us great shots as usual, especially the shot of a kitchen door flapping after Brandon walks throughout it to reveal him dropping the rope into a kitchen drawer, then hiding him again. A great shot. The cast is first rate even though Stewart feels out of place as the dark school teacher Rupert.

    The interesting thing is that the two killers are supposed to be homosexual, though 1948 Hollywood would never allow a film that would come right out and say that in those days and with a script sanitized by the powers that be the sense of the characters still exists. It's been said that even Stewart's character of Rupert could have also been more of an inspiration to them in that regard as well. Is it a veiled shot at homosexual's as murderers? Possibly, but knowing Hitchcock it was probably more of a controversial subject to throw in- something new to play with and give the audience something to toss around in their heads.

    Even though Rope is a flawed film it still stands as a testament to Hitchcock and his experiments through the years. This was his first color film and the first film that his production company produced. His first film he totally controlled was a grand experiment. Does it work? Partially. But it does stand as the doorway to the great films he made throughout the 1950's.
  • October 26, 2009
    The director's absolute tour de force. Amazing staging, great performances, excellent script. A classic.
  • October 19, 2009
    Extraordinary film, and very funny! Feels deep and shallow at the same time.
  • October 15, 2009
    Rope
    Errp fell asleep in the guts. It has a macarbre monolog that was quite chick/in vougue in it`s time for it`s style and so suarve actors filming but I didnt make it through an succumed to the... plots storyline. But for the modern technology that was of it`s day far advanc...( read more)ed to anything else at market (full feature 'budgetless', in house set filming) work this artistic style of pictures from a truly great director. It is worth another try, if time would allow it.

    Once again a premeditated murder from the onset sequencing but then the perswaysive wrong is a right screenplay balstered by the narrative like dialog that dosn`t do it for me and through all the gentry and courting protocol it was aleft up to the finalee we know is coming but as to how the untold is unfolded.
  • October 12, 2009
    Very short for Hitchcock and very strange. Not my favorite of his films.
  • September 23, 2009
    03/19/2009
    Quite interesting subject.

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Comments


  • Rossjm
    June 20, 2008
    Who the hell sugested Click a a similar film?!
  • panchof28
    September 30, 2006
    una de las películas más inteligentes de Hitchchock
  • tomkinsman
    August 22, 2006
    Probably my favorite Hitcock thriller, he manages to retain the suspense throughout the film.

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