Rope (1948) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Alfred Hitchcock

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

Rope is not among the first movies which comes to mind when Alfred Hitchcock is mentioned, but it is a supreme example of his love of suspense.    The mechanics for a suspenseful evening are simple:   Two men, Brandon and Phillip (Dall and Granger) strangle an "inferior" friend and hide his body in a trunk which will soon serve as a centerpiece at a party in the very apartment where the murder was committed.    The two murderers could've disposed of the body earlier perhaps, but part of the fun for them is getting away with murder while the body is right under everyone's nose.    Well, part of the fun for Brandon anyway.    Phillip is guilt-stricken, while Brandon walks around with a smirk like the cat who ate the canary.    They partially hope they will be caught, but only by Rupert (Stewart), their former prep school professor who lectured often about the supposed superiority of the intellectual class.   What a thrill it would be for them to see how they've twisted Rupert's words to mean something darker or more evil than intended.

Hitchcock experimented with longer cuts and different camera takes than in his previous or later films.    The camera is consistently moving in one sustained cut, which at times is noticeable, but not fatally so.    At one point, Hitchcock has to keep the camera behind a seat in order to rewind and continue the seemingly unbroken shot.    Film making tricks aside, Rope sinks or swims on its story, based on a play which was inspired by the infamous Leopold-Loeb case.    In reality, the murderers were homosexual lovers.   In Rope, their relationship is hinted at, but not exposed due to anti-decency laws in effect for motion pictures at the time.  

The famed director was not happy with his finished product and kept it out of theaters for decades, finally seeing re-release in 1984, four years following his death.    Rope succeeds due to the plot's sheer audacity.    We know the party guests are placing their drinks down on the trunk which hides the victim's body, but they don't, and there is a macabre suspense at work.    The guests inquire about the missing guest, and Brandon delights in posing theories as to why he isn't at the party.    Rupert, however, grows suspicious when the two men keep contriving ways to keep him away from the trunk.   But, even in his wildest dreams, he couldn't imagine his two prized students murdering someone, because that's human nature.    We can easily suspect a stranger of murder, but not a friend or relative.   The party guests also don't assume the worst, because no one wants to believe their friend/son/fiancé is no longer with us thanks to foul play.

Rope enjoys dangling the possibility of discovery in front of us, only to pull it back again.    The murderers are sufficiently malevolent, but Stewart, who despite playing a man with bad ideas which can easily be misconstrued or malleable, is who we hope would be the person who discovers the body.   Stewart may not be the ideal candidate to play a professor who espouses theories on intellectual superiority, but since he's Jimmy Stewart, we let it slide.   The final fifteen minutes are a verbal cat-and-mouse game, in which Rupert feigns leaving his cigarette case in the apartment just to confirm if his suspicions are correct.    He toys with Brandon's ego and Phillip's guilt, causing Phillip to scream, "It's cat and mouse, only who is the cat and who is the mouse?"    Rupert's discovery not only leads to something dreadful, but also the guilty understanding that his philosophies are not ones which should be thrown around lightly, because homicidal men may take them too far.    In that sense, Rope remains relevant even today, seventy years after it was made.