Rope

In 1948, Alfred Hitchcock made a movie called “Rope,” which is my personal favorite of his work, and another one of my favorite films. This was probably his first, or one of his first color films. This film is inspired by the Leopold and Loeb murders where two students at the University of Chicago murder their fellow classmate, Bobby Franks, in 1924. Want to know the reason why? Just so they can make “the perfect murder” and to prove their theory that it is acceptable for people that are as high as they are to murder those that are below them.

Also, the film is based off of Patrick Hamilton's 1929 play Rope’s End. Hume Cronyn and Arthur Laurents wrote this film while Hitchcock directed “Rope” as an experimental film from eight un-cut ten minute takes. You heard right, this film takes place in the friend’s apartment and doesn’t cut away to anything else. That’s what makes this film more suspenseful for me since anything could go in this apartment room. However, every ten minutes they would cut to black and then start up again. Remember, this is 1948, so the camera's could not record footage after the ten minute mark. That's why they would cut to black by zooming in on someone's back, or the last time they cut, into James Stewart's face.

The acting in this film is just great because you have such amazing actors here acting their part realistically, and they really bring the entertainment out of their performance. Dennis Schwartz comments in his review of this film, “Thematically it dallies around arguments about Nietzschean philosophy, his "superman" theory, in order to take down that elitist belief as possibly being used in the wrong way to justify criminal acts.” Also, people might say that the two friends are actually gay lovers but never come out of the closet to admit it, but that’s only for you to decide.

Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) are wealthy, smart students that have known each other from childhood. Phillip is obviously the weaker of the two since he is frightened about the consequences if they get caught. After much urging from Brandon, he teams with him to strangle their classmate, a wealthy Harvard undergrad, David Kentley, played by Dick Hogan, with a rope. Next thing you know, they place David’s corpse in a trunk and hold a party, using that trunk as a dinner table. How sadistically cruel is that?

Edith Evanson plays the housekeeper, Ms. Wilson, who helps the boys serve the meals at the party. Want to know who is on the guest list? David’s father, Henry Kentley (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), his sister-in-law, Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier), who also loves astrology, David’s fiancée, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler), who is a magazine writer, David’s former best friend and Janet’s former fiancée, Kenneth Lawrence (Douglas Dick), and the boys former prep school housemaster, Rupert Cadell (James Stewart in his first of many starring roles in Hitchcock movies).

Now Brandon was apparently inspired by Rupert’s teachings of murder by the honored few is a good thing for society, as Dennis Schwartz puts it, “a takeoff on Hitler's use of Nietzsche's "superman".” Sickeningly enough, Brandon enjoyed murdering David, which would make you wonder why. According to Brandon, he viewed it as a work of art. Phillip’s reaction is a realistic emotion since he is frightened and eventually cracks at the end of the party. As any teacher would, Rupert is suspecting that the boys are up to some funny business. For that, he has a few tricks up his sleeves in order to find out what the boys did. The end speech by Rupert is just great, with him regretting ever teaching the boys about murder if he knew that they would commit such a heinous act.

If you are a Hitchcock fan, or a James Stewart fan, you would definitely check this one out. People might say that this isn’t the best work Hitchcock made with James Stewart, but it’s my personal favorite of all the ones James Stewart starred in. Don’t get me wrong, the later work is probably much scary, but this is where James Stewart’s character is the victim. He taught these boys about murder when not knowing that his students might go out and commit murder, taking his words quite literally. Sure, the two boys are to blame for the murder no doubt, but it was James Stewart’s character that led them into committing this act.

Well, that’s the first Hitchcock work that James Stewart starred in, and Hitchcock would make sure to bring Stewart back for more films. Stay tuned tomorrow when I look at the second in my “Hitchcock/Stewart-a-thon.”