‘Rope’ is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpieces. It is completely different from the other Hitchcock movies. It’s not a whodunit yet it has loads of suspense throughout the entire length of the movie.
The movie opens with a couple of guys, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Philip Morgan (Farley Granger), strangling one of their classmates, David Kentley and hiding the body in a trunk. The idea behind the murder is to commit a perfect murder. Brandon and Philip consider themselves to be intellectually superior and believe that they should have the right to murder the inferior beings. This belief of theirs is influenced by the thoughts of Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), their former teacher. After the murder there is a party where the family and friends of the victim, including Rupert, are invited and are literally served from the victim’s grave, the trunk being used as a serving table. The madness doesn’t end here! Brandon keeps throwing hints for the guests to figure out that poor David will never make it to the party. This causes a few repercussions with Philip, who being the mentally weaker of the two, becoming nervous and making it very apparent that something is wrong, and Rupert becoming suspicious.
The movie has been shot in only 10 takes and is unique in that respect. It lends a different kind of an experience with the camera constantly focused somewhere or the other, esp. in one of the scenes where the trunk was in focus for quite some time. The suspense is heightened because of this technique.
It would be an understatement to say that John Dall was brilliant in his portrayal of Brandon Shaw. It’s a pity he hasn’t done many movies. James Stewart was good as usual. All in all this movie is definitely worth watching at least once. If you like it see it again!
The movie opens with a couple of guys, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Philip Morgan (Farley Granger), strangling one of their classmates, David Kentley and hiding the body in a trunk. The idea behind the murder is to commit a perfect murder. Brandon and Philip consider themselves to be intellectually superior and believe that they should have the right to murder the inferior beings. This belief of theirs is influenced by the thoughts of Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), their former teacher. After the murder there is a party where the family and friends of the victim, including Rupert, are invited and are literally served from the victim’s grave, the trunk being used as a serving table. The madness doesn’t end here! Brandon keeps throwing hints for the guests to figure out that poor David will never make it to the party. This causes a few repercussions with Philip, who being the mentally weaker of the two, becoming nervous and making it very apparent that something is wrong, and Rupert becoming suspicious.
The movie has been shot in only 10 takes and is unique in that respect. It lends a different kind of an experience with the camera constantly focused somewhere or the other, esp. in one of the scenes where the trunk was in focus for quite some time. The suspense is heightened because of this technique.
It would be an understatement to say that John Dall was brilliant in his portrayal of Brandon Shaw. It’s a pity he hasn’t done many movies. James Stewart was good as usual. All in all this movie is definitely worth watching at least once. If you like it see it again!
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