Rope (1948)

	Director: Alfred Hitchcock	COUNTRY USA GENRE Thriller/Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Repet RUNNING TIME 80 minutes
	Producer: Sidney Bernstein Alfred Hitchcock
	Screenwriter (based on a play by Patrick Hamilton): Arthur Laurents Hume Cronyn

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Rupert Cadell	James Stewart	½
Brandon Shaw	John Dall	½
Philip	Farley Granger
Janet Walker	Joan Chandler	½
Mr. Kentley	Cedric Hardwicke
Mrs. Atwater	Constance Collier
Kenneth Lawrence	Douglas Dick

Review

One of few films by Hitchcock that is more noteworthy for its technical aspects than the thematic. Rope works well on a base level, telling the tale of two spoiled rich kids who commit murder for the heck of it, under the illusion that as members of the intellectual and social elite, they are entitled to do so. As a murder mystery (or rather a post-murder mystery) the film is effective, with numerous playful situations centered around the presence of the dead body at a dinner party. Not untraditionally, this is what becomes Hitchcock's focal point, and coupled with Arthur Laurents' delightful dialogue, the film is full of delicate and macabre wit that keeps it alive and highlights Hitchcock's brilliant comic timing.

He impresses with his camera too, letting it glide around the film's one and only set, presenting the narrative with impressive flux, deploying cuts only when the reel changes required it (which was at about every ten minutes). The theatrical quality of the piece calls for strong characterizations, but unfortunately, Hitchcock becomes somewhat vague when discussing the most potent aspects of the script: the implied homosexuality and the philosophical foundation that inspired the murder in the first place – centered around Nietzsche's idea of the Übermensch. Regarding both these aspects, there is a certain tension between the Dall and Granger characters, but James Stewart's character doesn't quite work. He's a fine protagonist in his detective-like capacity, but becomes too much of a theoretical, non-potent guise in regard to the two aforementioned aspects, making Rope a less edgy and more forgettable document of its time than it might have been. As it stands, the film lacks both the harrowing suspense and the thematic layers that characterized Hitchcock's best work.