Rope (1948) ***1/2

Rope is another of Alfred Hitchcock's experiments and he actually pulls off three in this one. The first is that this film is shot like a stage play with the only cuts being when the film ran out in the camera. The second is that it's his first Technicolor film. And third, this is one of the first big films that dealt with an extremely veiled and hidden topic like homosexuality.

Rope is about Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) who kill their friend David (Dick Hogan) in the opening minutes of the picture (Ironically Hogan gets more screen time in the trailer than in the actual film). Rope is one of those rare early films where the killers don't kill for any real particular reason. It's mainly a social experiment to them. The pair are sick, mainly Brandon who sees the murder as an aristocratic right. The superior should be able to murder the inferior.

Add into this sick foray that they decide to have a dinner party right after the murder. If you didn't think it could get any worse they invite the victims father and aunt (Cedric Hardwicke and Constance Collier), the victims fiance Janet (Joan Chandler), the victims former best friend Kenneth (Douglas Dick), and their former headmaster who appears to be the inspiration for this sick game Rupert Cadell (James Stewart). The party moves on with a few hiccups and the constant puns about death, murder, dying, and strangulation that continual make our two sick boys very nervous, causing Rupert to suspect that something is going on, he just can't figure out what.

Rope isn't Hitchcock's greatest films by no means. The gimmick of a film shot in real time was great and real lets suspense build as Brandon and Philip continue to test fate for 90 minutes. The problem is Hitchcock's other gimmick- the long shots. It's not the long shots themselves that kill the film, it's the way that each new can of film segues into another. Close ups on back with dark suits and such continually interrupts the film, not allowing it to flow like a stage play as Hitchcock intended. Hitchcock still gives us great shots as usual, especially the shot of a kitchen door flapping after Brandon walks throughout it to reveal him dropping the rope into a kitchen drawer, then hiding him again. A great shot. The cast is first rate even though Stewart feels out of place as the dark school teacher Rupert.

The interesting thing is that the two killers are supposed to be homosexual, though 1948 Hollywood would never allow a film that would come right out and say that in those days and with a script sanitized by the powers that be the sense of the characters still exists. It's been said that even Stewart's character of Rupert could have also been more of an inspiration to them in that regard as well. Is it a veiled shot at homosexual's as murderers? Possibly, but knowing Hitchcock it was probably more of a controversial subject to throw in- something new to play with and give the audience something to toss around in their heads.

Even though Rope is a flawed film it still stands as a testament to Hitchcock and his experiments through the years. This was his first color film and the first film that his production company produced. His first film he totally controlled was a grand experiment. Does it work? Partially. But it does stand as the doorway to the great films he made throughout the 1950's.