Rope
ROPE (PG)
D: Alfred Hitchcock
Transatlantic (Sidney Bernstein & Alfred
Hitchcock)
US 1948
80 mins
Thriller
W: Arthur Laurents [based on the play by Patrick
Hamilton]
DP: Joseph Valentine & William V.
Small
Ed: William Ziegler
Mus: David Buttolph
James Stewart (Rupert Cadell), John Dall (Brandon
Shaw), Farley Granger (Philip Morgan), Joan Chandler (Janet Walker), Cedric Hardwicke (Henry Kentley), Constance Collier (Anita Atwater)
An experimental effort from the Master of Suspense,
Alfred Hitchcock, who utilises editing and photography techniques to make the project look as though it were all filmed in one shot.
The plot itself is quite thin, but sinisterly macabre
and loosely based on true events. A pair of high society homosexuals murder a friend simply to see if they can get away with it, concealing the dead body in a trunk before commencing a
dinner party with guests including a police investigator.
Though the director's efforts can be admired, the film
doesn't quite work and the story probably would have been best suited to the stage. Worth watching for historical interest, but little else.
6/10
