“Rope” may not be the greatest Hitchcock film, but it certainly is one of the most entertaining. It has been criticized in the past for coming off too much like a stage play [which is what the film is based on], but Hitchcock tried his darndest to bring a cinematic edge to the project.
Famous for being a ‘one-shot’ film, “Rope” actually consisted of about 10 long takes. Back in 1948, a reel of film was divided into two 10 minute minireels. Hitchcock experimented with long takes and cleverly edited the film to give the illusion of one continuous shot. It’s rather brilliant work for a film that’s now 63-years-old. What really impresses me about this film is that Alfred Hitchcock only considered “Rope” to be nothing more than a fun experiment in filmmaking, yet it is still far superior to most other films released at the time.
James Stewart is fantastic as always, but the two actors who play the murderers, John Dall and Farley Granger, steal the show. Their characters are based on the real life murderers Leopold & Loeb who killed a 14-year-old boy in 1924 thinking they were committing ‘the perfect crime’.
Leopold & Loeb were speculated to be homosexuals and screenwriter Arthur Laurents clearly wrote “Rope” with that in mind. The homosexual undertones are blatant and Brandon and Phillip are obviously written to be gay. “Rope” has been a key film and inspiration for the queer cinema movement since it was one of very few films pre-1960 to feature homosexual characters.
Hitchcock has many recognized masterpieces, but this is not usually considered one of his all-time best. Personally, I think it’s up there with “Psycho” and “Rear Window” as one of his finest films and in my opinion, it’s the epitome of the word ‘thriller’. (A)