Rope

Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: This was Hitchock's first color film. The photography and editing are crude compared to Notorious, released just two years earlier. Notorious is such a polished gem that I wonder whether Hitchcock needed to make things harder for himself by working within the self-imposed constraints of filming in real time and of having no visible edits. At about 10-minute intervals, Hitchcock would run the camera into an actor's back or an object in order to make the cut during the blackout. These edits are obvious and clumsy, so I would have to say that that aspect of Hitchcock's experimentation was unsuccessful. I also don't know that much was gained by not using more than one camera per take, but Hitchcock makes the most of the camera, brilliantly choosing what to show and what not to show. For instance, the suspense builds as the camera stays fixed on the maid as she clears the table, because we know that she soon will try to open the trunk, thereby exposing the corpse. Also, I like how Hitchcock trains the camera on Stewart while the two college chums fight. We can see Stewart practically peering into their souls during the argument.

Jimmy Stewart is superb and very funny in the dinner-party scenes, cocking his head sideways and giving a peculiar, knowing look as he takes in the strange happenings. The main problem with the film is that I cannot see Jimmy Stewart truly believing the awful, Nietzsche-like things that he says about favoring the murdering of inferior people. He seems as if he is praising murder more to shock other people than to report his actual beliefs, but we are supposed to think that he is completely sincere. The conversation about murder among the dinner guests seems forced more by the dramatic needs of the film than by a realistic progression of events.

John Dall is very good in his role, but Farley Granger's performance seems rather eccentric and stagey.

My favorite scene is when Stewart grills Granger at the piano to find out why he has been acting so strangely. The fast, loud, insistently ticking metronome in Stewart's hands adds to the tension in the situation. I also like how Stewart reconstructs the murder out-loud as the camera follows the victim's footsteps during his last few minutes of life, the lack of human life in the camera frame emphasizing the man's removal from this world.

Despite some flaws, this is a fascinating film that is well worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock's Most Overlooked Film
Review: Alfred Hitchcock was brilliant at creating the perfect atmosphere in his films, and in this respect, Rope does not dissapoint. In Rope, just as in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), the camera carries us to one mere window of an apartment in a big city (here, it is New York). For one hour and thirty minutes, we will watch as Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) host a dinner party for the family and friends of the former schoolmate that they have murdered that very day. Although Hitchcock has forfeited most of his intricate camera direction (Rope, as an experiment, was filmed with as few camera cuts as possible), the placing and movements of the actors around Brandon and Phillip's Manhattan apartment are impressively coordinated. Though subtle, this masterful direction has a palpable effect on Rope's edgy, mysterious atmosphere. Although Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant for the part of Rupert Cadell, Brandon and Phillip's housemaster from their prepratory school days, Grant turned down the role and James Stewart got the part. Today, it is hard to imagine anyone besides Stewart as Rupert, though one can only wonder how Grant would have acted it. Stewart's ability to balance cynicism and warmth, humor and graveness, is impressive. The script is excellent. The dialogue is witty and rolls of the tounges of these characters. The use of double entendre is particularly humorous. The DVD features are pretty good. There is a half hour documentary on the making of the film featuring Hume Cronyn, who did the script treatment for Rope, Arthur Laurents, who wrote the screenplay, Farley Granger, and Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell, Alfred Hitchcock's daugther. Also included: a clever trailer for Rope and many production photos. It would have been interesting to have a film commentary. Hopefully, this film will attract a critical and commerical renaissance of sorts, as was the case with Hitchock's Vertigo (1958).

Rating:
Summary: made me question my admiration for nietzsche
Review: although i still think that friedrich nietzsche is probably one of the most important thinkers to ever live, i have to admit that this film in particular made me reflect on my almost unqualified (at the time) admiration for the man and his work. i never bought into his ideas wholesale and took an attitude of cynical skepticism toward his 'aristocratic' posture, but he made a deep impression on me nonetheless. i still think, as nietzsche did, that we cannot honestly say all people are 'equal' regardless of varying levels of ability, talent, or intelligence, but jimmy stewart's impassioned dialogue at the end struck a certain guilty chord in me. it is simply too cold and dehumanized to be an advocate of 'higher' and 'lower' ways of thinking, however empirically justified or rational this out look may be. i really wanted to smack the arrogant and pretentious brandon, and i was thinking to myself the whole time that if i hadn't been a little wary of nietzsche's subjective and entirely relative conclusions of the consequences of nihilism (that the "will to power" is the only drive, that compassion is a weakness, etc) that i could have turned into an evil, self important brat like brandon was in the film. fortunately i recognized early on nietzsche's obvious hypocrisy and the blatant fallacies present in his life and work--he insisted that all philosophers be existential examples of what they believe, and yet he himself was hardly some powerful artistic warrior free from 'decadence' and weakness. he was ill constantly and frequently had to take leave of his teaching position because of his extreme physical sickliness, he was an utter failure in his relations with the opposite sex, and he was completely lacking in any kind of worldly or political "power", the only thing he supposedly respected. the worship of force might work theoretically, on paper, but i don't think nietzsche would have reacted very well if one of his relatives or loved ones happened to be mentally ill or physically debilitated and the authorities decided that hey, since he or she isn't of any use to society, why not waste 'em? it is true that nietzsche despised anti semitism and constantly told his wretched sister that he was ashamed of her involvement in it, but whether he knew it or not his philosophy of relativism and hierarchic nihilism DOES explicity allow for any kind of ideology as long as it leads to power and serves those who espouse it, and this includes the nazi ideology. (...) im guessing that hitchcock was somewhat familiar with nietzsche's work and the ideas implicit in it, and i see "rope" as a more mature and reflective response to the philosopher's confusing of creativity and immorality. all you nietzschean/machiavellian/stirnerites out there should rent this one sometime and see what you think of it, as it just might make you question your ethical relativism and egoistic attitude toward the suffering of man. a must

Rating:
Summary: Splendid flick
Review: Though this film, as others have said before me, is not hailed as the best of Hitchcock, it is most certainly one of my more favored. Jimmy Stewart is a loveable, honest and moral hero, and the villains pyschotic. The suspense killed me, to coin a phrase... I can watch this movie innumerable times and it continues to voice and express its unproclaimed charm.

Rating:
Summary: A Thought Provoking and Amazing Movie
Review: What a movie! It doesn't have the color or visual attractiveness of so many other Hitchcock films, but what it lacks in aesthetic grandeur is more than made up for in suspense and intelligence.

As a philosophy student, I LOVED the premise here. So many times have I listened to students and professors alike who take a "sophisticated" attitude towards the thought of men like Nietzsche, always approaching the topic as "theoretical" or "in the abstract." But when one applies a theory or a philosophy to real life, then one finds out whether it really has value (and honestly, how many of us would subscribe to the idea of 'ubermen,' beyond good and evil, without immediately assuming that title for ourselves?). But a tough-minded application of just such a "sophisticated" theory is precisely what Hitchcock does, brilliantly, in ROPE.

What really knocks this fantastic premise out of the ballpark is the inclusion of the one-and-only Jimmy Stewart, who represents, initially, that slightly condescending, intellectual snobbery that the movie ultimately attacks. We are taken aback by Stewart's character's words, precisely because Stewart is such a likeable actor. Because it's Stewart, we tend to listen to the character's obscene ideology with the same forgiveness and uncomfortable snicker as some of the party guests to whom he's speaking, though we've just witnessed his words in murderous action. So when Stewart's character comes to his senses upon the realization that a murder has been committed, it is gut-wrenching and powerful.

What a blessing, what a treat, that this movie has been restored and presented in such a terrific fashion on DVD. ROPE is a movie to be watched with thoughtful friends and talked about.

Rating:
Summary: Top-Notch Hitchcock Suspense!
Review: For me, this 1948 Hitchcock classic has a very high "re-watchability" factor. I never tire of watching it over again. Just something special about it. With the entire picture shot in a single room, one might think it would become quite dry and boring. Not so at all. Suspense and suspicion build throughout the story. I've never been able to spot Hitch's cameo in this film. This VHS package claims Hitch is walking down the sidewalk in the opening shot (shown from high above). But other sources I've read say that his cameo comes 55 minutes into the film, in the form of an image created by a neon sign seen from a window in the apartment. ??? Anybody know which is correct? Maybe both? Although I don't think Hitchcock has ever appeared TWICE in the same movie.

Rating:
Summary: ingenious
Review: ingenious idea almost perfectly executed. great idea, great acting, great directing, editing, writing. the ending is a little sorry as i find is typical of a lot of hitchcock movies, but all in all a great experience and one worth owning

Rating:
Summary: One of Hitchcock's greatest films
Review: This should've gotten more praise from people. It's a great movie with the usual Hitchcock touches but this one is a little different than his other films, if you've seen the film then you know what I'm talking about. I think this is a great movie

Rating:
Summary: An Overlooked Classic Finally Given Its Due
Review: Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, the first film that the Master of Suspense filmed in Technicolor, has languished in largely undeserved mediocrty since its release in 1948. The film didn't do well theatrically in the US, and subsequent versions (VHS) were made from terrible-quality originals. Finally, Universal has seen fit to release on DVD a marvelously restored version of a truly fine film.

Rope, based on a play of the same name, which was in turn based on a real murder case in 1924, opens with two friends - played by John Dall and Farley Granger - strangling a classmate with a length of rope. The body is then stuffed in a trunk that the two use as a buffet table during an upcoming dinner party - a party partially in their murdered friend's honor.

As the movie progresses, the friends' professor - played exceedingly well by James Stewart in one of his best-acted roles - eventually begins to suspect the crime. As the two students engage him in a discussion about Nietzschian philosophy, and specifically philosophy of the ubermensch (overman or superman), Stewart's character puts two and two together. The tension is so tight you hold your breath for the last half-hour, wondering if Stewart knows, and if he does, what he's going to do about it - and, more importantly, if he's in danger, too.

Much has been made of the technical side of the film - Hitch wanted it as close to a stage play as possible, and the entire movie has only nine (well-hidden) breaks - as well as the homosexual overtones, but the real genius in Rope comes from the acting and direction. As opposed to today's "roller-coaster ride" action movies, Rope builds slowly, layering tension upon tension until the viewer just can't wait anymore to find out what happens. Anyone can toy with an audience, using special effects, explosions, and fast cars to create action, but true suspense - that hourglass feeling of grains of sand building a mountain - takes talent, and Rope readily uses that effect, thanks largely to the preformances of the three main characters.

In addition, Stewart's ultimate conclusions on Nietzschian philosophy offer a refreshing step away from those who would indict it solely on the basis of notions (and books) like the Will to Power - people who can see no further than the two murderers. Like Hitler and Dall and Granger's characters, some people cannot see past these passages, often taken out of context from the rest of Nietzsche's thought. Thankfully, Arthur Laurentis' screenplay ultimately deals with these ideas in a mature manner - and shows the horrifying effects of the hubris so many undergraduate-level students get when they don't bother to read and conside Nietzsche in context.

Universal's DVD is excellent - the picture and sound quality are top-notch, especially considering its been more than 50 years since Rope was filmed. The full-frame presentation isn't a problem, since widescreen movies didn't exist at the time. The half-hour long featurette offers some interesting insights and interviews with a couple members of the cast and crew, and isn't your usual "so-and-so was great" pieces. Hume Cronyn offers some genuine - and well-founded - criticisms of both Hitch and the finished product. Also included is Rope's unique theatrical trailer, a kind of "mini-short" featuring the soon-to-be-murdered lad discussing a marriage proposal with his girlfriend in Central Park, in surprisingly decent quality considering the film's age.

If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, or just like great acting and pianowire-tight tension, then you can't go wrong with Rope.

Rating:
Summary: Heavily Underated!!!!!!
Review: I had already been a Hitchcock fan before I watched this wonderous film. I was completely prepared for the style and was also told that that was it's weakness(extended camera shots). I think it just demanstrates how talented these actors are: having to act through very long scenes and not scruing up. It was also very emotional at the end when Stewart does his Society speech and shoots the gun out the window. I can't think of any other director who could have made a movie this confined but yet so good(Similar to "rear window"). Don't miss it.