Rope

One of Hitchcock's best films

"I hope so. I hope with all of my heart that I'm crazy."

Brilliant. I had high hopes for this movie and they were all exceeded. It was interesting to watch while keeping in mind that it was shot to look like it was all one continuous take. [spoiler]I also felt that it shows us an insight into Brandon's chracter to watch the steely composure he had from the start dwindle away to nothing as the story progresses.[/spoiler]

Homoerotic tension to the max. Hidden cuts and a claustrophobic buildup to the big finale, the reverse whodunnit.

What a great movie, this one proves why Hitchcock is called as the master of suspense. Also it's great to know how this movie is well directed, everything has a meaning: the voices, the way of some character is looking, the way that they move...

Nearly perfect. Nothing wasted. It's in color BTW.

The OG one-shot film. It’s still a lot of fun and has great fundamentals. Good dialogue, excellent eccentric performances from the entire cast and a lot of tension coming from the contained setting and Hitchock’s cinematic eye. The gay subtext is quite funny and bold for its time, but it doesn’t necessarily add anything to the story or its themes. Not that there’s a lot of depth to be found generally, what it’s trying to say about a superiority complex of the social elites isn’t very well fleshed out. Instead, this is driven by the emotion and its presentation choices. It’s pretty obvious where the cuts are, however they’re well executed and seamless (I only noticed some inconsistent colour timing, but that’s a negligible nitpick). It also shouldn’t be overlooked how good the blocking and lighting are, especially considering how experimental this was for its time. You can tell they put a lot of thought into every detail, every pause in Jimmy Stewart’s performance feels so meticulous and it adds that much more tension.

8.5/10

It's amazing watching the movies that inspired all the ones that came after it. The continuous shot illusion here is flawed yes, but obviously genius for the time. The performances and the tension keep your eyes glued to the screen.

It's also interesting to see how so many of the villains in Hitchcock's movies are queer coded - at the time that came from his fascination with the twisted, but he couldn't have predicted that these villains would make the heroes of his stories incredibly dull in comparison - that is especially obvious in this film. Now, funnily enough, Hollywood is obsessed with making stories about villains, we've become the celebrated protagonists.

Fantastic performances! The directing is just perfect! One of Hitchcock's best.

Alfred Hitchcock’s first Technicolor film is an inherently theatrical one-room drama, set in a ritzy penthouse apartment with a dazzling view of the city. There, a pair of proto-yuppies have just finished strangling a friend, merely to have the experience. In the aftermath, now feeling quite invincible, the ringleader gleefully, if indirectly, flaunts his misdeed. What better time to throw a party than while there’s a corpse hidden in the living room? Why not invite the dead man’s parents and serve snacks directly over the body? While one conspirator starts sweating right away, the other is enamored with the idea of getting away with something so gruesome, of knowing a naughty secret and testing the boundaries of his own arrogance.

As the party gathers, buzzes and mixes, we coast around like the room like a silent guest, floating from one circle to the next while morsels of gossip mingle with smug winks and hints from the perpetrators. Hitch tries hard to frame the whole thing as a single unbroken shot, but cinema had certain limitations at the time (like a ten-minute reel capacity) and, though ambitious, this illusion is hardly impregnable. Every so often, we’ll lean in to inspect a shadow, the screen will momentarily go black, and then we’ll pull back out to resume the action. These breaks are well orchestrated, timed to meet a momentary lull in the conversation, but quite easy to recognize. Still, the effort is laudable from most every perspective: shooting, acting and directing alike. A whole lot had to go right just to carry the idea this far, and not only does the experiment stay out of the plot’s way, it serves as an active complement. We feel more intimately included in this private party, let in on its guarded moments; we note little movements and remarks that go over many attendees’ heads. The effect isn’t seamless, but it’s still powerful.

_Rope_ does have problems. It runs for just eighty minutes, but feels about thirty minutes longer and has some wasted motion. James Stewart, a late arrival to the party, is meant to portray a respected former school master, but he may as well be playing Sherlock Holmes. That character immediately smells something fishy and goes into detective mode before he’s been properly introduced, which spoils some of the fun. Not that we lack for suspense, even after Stewart’s taken to the trail: one scene, in which a housekeeper casually undresses the table after supper and very nearly lets the cat out of the bag, might be among Hitchcock’s simplest, and most impressive, demonstrations. The dialogue is largely excellent - essential for a film that’s powered almost entirely by talking heads - but its saucy notes are sometimes overplayed and its segues could be smoother.

All that said, I really enjoyed it, but I already have a soft spot for chatty character studies with heavy underlying tension. This may not be _Twelve Angry Men_, but it’s cut from the same cloth.

Another Alfred Hitchcock film showcasing his signature tension, sharp dialogue, and great direction. While his direction here remains impressive, it sometimes feels overly ambitious. He employs some clever techniques that highlight his skill, but at times, they come across as more gimmicky than fully realized.

That said, it's still a great Hitchcock film, and I definitely recommend it, 7.85