Rope (1948)

Synopsis: Based on the famous Leopold and Loeb murder case (from which two other films, COMPULSION and SWOON, were also derived), ROPE both challenges and terrifies the audience. Alfred Hitchcock disdained... Based on the famous Leopold and Loeb murder case (from which two other films, COMPULSION and SWOON, were also derived), ROPE both challenges and terrifies the audience. Alfred Hitchcock disdained the whodunit crime story, which he felt lacked emotional force, and ROPE shows the director's preference for letting the audience know more than the characters onscreen. The film opens as two young men (Farley Granger and John Dall) strangle a friend just to prove they're intellectually capable of committing the perfect crime. To add to the amusement, they hide the body in a trunk that will serve as the dinner table for a party honoring the deceased. The film hones in on an hour and a half of the party, with the constantly moving camera capturing the changing emotional atmosphere as the guests grow increasingly concerned about the fate of the missing boy. ROPE is a directorial tour de force, blending complex camera movement with intricate staging to present the entire story in near-real time in one location. Notably, the adaptation of the play by Patrick Hamilton was written by perennial Hitchcock actor Hume Cronyn. [More]

Starring: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Cedric Hardwicke

Starring: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Joan Chandler, Edith Evanson, Douglas Dick

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Producer: Sidney Lewis Bernstein, Alfred Hitchcock
Screenwriter: Arthur Laurents, Hume Cronyn, Ben Hecht
Composer: David Buttolph

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