... If you want to buy Rope on DVD, it is available from amazon.co.uk for £4.92, and I would say that this masterclass of presenting a dramatic thriller is well worth having. Recommended!... Read review
James Stewart stars with Farley Granger and John Dall in this highly charged 1948 Alfred ... more
Hitchcock thriller that has intrigued fans because of its chilling subject based on a true story and its unique 'unedited' cinematic style. Granger and Dall are two friends who strangle a classmate for intellectual thrills and then proceed to invite his family and mutual friends for dinner - with the body stuffed inside the trunk they use for a buffet table. Their former teacher (Stewart) suspects wrongdoing. Before the night is over he finds out how brutally his students have twisted his own academic theories.
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An experimental film masquerading as a standard Hollywood thriller. The plot ofRopeis ... more
simple and based on a successful stage play: two young men (John Dall and Farley Granger) commit murder, more or less as an intellectual exercise. They hide the body in their large apartment, then throw a dinner party. Will the body be discovered? Director Alfred Hitchcock, fascinated by the possibilities of the long-take style, decided to shoot this story as though it were happening in one long, uninterrupted shot. Since the camera can only hold one 10-minute reel at a time, Hitchcock had to be creative when it came time to change reels, disguising the switches as the camera passed behind someone's back or moved behind a lamp. In later years Hitchcock wrote off the approach as misguided, andRopemay not be one of Hitchcock's top movies, but it's still a nail-biter. They don't call him the Master of Suspense for nothing. James Stewart, as a suspicious professor, marks his first starring role for Hitchcock, a collaboration that would lead to the masterpiecesRear WindowandVertigo. --Robert Horton
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Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Advantages: Stunning filming and direction, the subtleties, two leads Disadvantages: Some average acting from the supporting cast, but still okay
...or four Hitchcock films, and each one has impressed me greatly. I shall certainly be seeking out more. If you want to buy Rope on DVD, it is available from amazon.co.uk for £4.92, and I would say that this masterclass of presenting a dramatic thriller is well worth having. Recommended! ... more
The plot of this 1948 Hitchcock film, as well as the cinematography, are rather basic and simplisitic in their presentation, which is possibly what makes this excellent dramatic thriller take a bit of a back seat where the director is concerned. Most would associate him with Psycho, or The Birds, or North By Northwest, but this is a fabulous exploration of the human psyche, with the subtleties being the clinches in the brilliance that he so often showed with his films.
Two friends, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) kill their inferior classmate from school, hide him in a trunk in the middle of their flat, and then invite their mutual friends and their victim's family round for a party as a test to their perfect crime. It is quite simply the plot, in a nutshell, and it is no more complicated than that. Shot entirely in a studio, with the exception of the opening scene, Hitchcock used a series of rolling camera shots to film the entire thing, with the shortest section of film being just over 4 minutes, and the longest around the 10 minute mark. This in itself is a testament to the acting skills on show, as it is the subtleties I mentioned before.
The acting is, on the whole, very good. There are a few moments where it seems very much like a film, and not at all like real life, very much like people delivering lines. This, in a way, makes things seems more like a play, as does the studio feel to the film. Our two murderers work excellently together, with Brandon being the dominant Alpha male and Phillip certainly the weaker minded of the two, requiring cajoling and persuasion. There are definite sexual hints between the two of them, and Hitchcock ensures that the two of them act as if they are in a relationship. There is nothing physical or verbal to actually say they care for each other, apart from one bit where Brandon places his hand on Phillip's arm, to calm him down. However, this contact is broken immediately. This is one subtle element that makes the tension that much more noticeable.
The appearance of James Stewart as one of their old school masters provides the extreme tension for the film, for they are sure that if anyone will suss them out, it will be him. I have never seen Stewart in a film before, and I wasn't too impressed by his entrance. However, his screen presence soon becomes apparent, as doing his timing and acting ability. A very good performance. The other players in the film do contribute in doses, mainly with the way Hitchcock examines social interaction, attraction and public perception, but it is the 3 main characters I have mentioned that the film centres around.
Yet the awards for the acting stakes must go to our two leads. Stewart's name may be the one people associate more with the film, but only as a result of his status. The other two are the real stars of the show, and I watched entranced as their emotional states changed throughout the film, all the while Phillip slowly but surely losing the plot, and becoming more nervous about being found out. Brandon attempts to maintain a nonchalant air about him, and for the most part does so, letting a few slips in, and it is how the plot develops quite rapidly, and how nervous you become as a viewer every time anyone goes near the trunk, that makes things so clever.
Hitchcock really is a master of this sort of film. It is the subtleties, the little gestures, the camera shots and zooms, and the glances and characteristics of the players involved, that make the film. He shows us that you don't need huge budgets and glossy special effects to make a riveting film. He did it here using long camera shots, a few actors and a constantly changing background. The scenes through the flat window is one of outside, with city buildings and clouds. That this was a studio filmed piece of art shows how intricate his detail was, that throughout the party, the outside view slowly darkens, progressing with time as it would were it real outside. Fabulous detail.
I caught this on TV last night. I hadn't really heard of it before, and wasn't even really too fussed when I first started watching. But the premise of the film made me curious as to how it was going to work, and once I started watching, I couldn't stop. It was mesmerising. I have seen three or four Hitchcock films, and each one has impressed me greatly. I shall certainly be seeking out more. If you want to buy Rope on DVD, it is available from amazon.co.uk for £4.92, and I would say that this masterclass of presenting a dramatic thriller is well worth having. Recommended!
the sky. It's a technical wonder, and half the fun comes from knowing what is going on behind the camera.
What goes on in front of it may be less engaging, but 'Rope' is still worthy viewing. When it all gells it's a teasing vision of what could have been, but a restrictive set, endless rehearsal and camera drills, and long mentally draining 8 minute takes made for an unhappy and uncohesive picture.
A triumph of set design, and beautifully shot in technicolour by Joseph Valentine 'Rope' is a forgotten Hitchcock, lacking in all the other ingredients you would expect from the master of suspense. Now on DVD there is no better time to give the film a try, coming armed with a fascinating documentary, art gallery, a trailer compilation and 4 page booklet.
The restored transfer is wonderful, and the previously impressive studio sunset is ...
dadmancat 14.05.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rope (DVD)
Advantages: A wonderful viewing experience Disadvantages: It's classic Hitchcock - you won't find any bad points!
Rope (1948) was Alfred Hitcock's first film as Director and Producer and was also the first of his movies to be filmed in colour.
The film opens quite startlingly as we witness the murder of poor David by two of his fellow academics, Brandon and Phillip. After being strangled with the rope to which the title refers, David's lifeless body is unceremoniously heaved into a large wooden chest in the centre of the apartment in which the entire film unfolds. We quickly learn that the murder was committed out of a sense of intellectual privilege by the young men following conversation with a former tutor, Rupert Cadell (played convincingly, as always, by James Stewart). "Murder is the privilege of the intellectually superior". Taking this flippant statement rather too literally led to the opening scene.
To add further insult to their act ...
englishdavid 09.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rope (DVD)
Advantages: Great Story, haunting, Hitchcock's greatest. Disadvantages: Way too short
Some consider Psycho to be Hitchcock’s most thought-provoking films. Others believe it’s Rebecca as it’s a romantic thriller and unlike anything he’s ever done. But for me it’s neither of these. For me it always has been and always will be Rope. Rope was one of Hitchcock’s earlier works. Before Psycho and The Birds Hitchcock concentrated more on thriller and darkness than horror. Even though whilst watching Rope it’s blatantly obvious that Rope is a Hitchcock film it’s still rather different to some of his other movies. Rope has a much darker feel. A much more sinister feeling. You have much more feelings and emotions running around inside you whilst watching Rope more so than say The Birds or Psycho. It’s got a better plot as well. Again the plot is dark and sinister. It’s ...
Mattroberts 24.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rope (DVD)
Two college students murder a classmate in a bizarre experiment. This was Hitchcock's first film as an independent producer and was filmed almost entirely in 'real time' on a single set.
Based on the famous Leopold and Loeb murder case (from which two other films, COMPULSION and SWOON, were also derived), ROPE both challenges and terrifies the audience. Alfred Hitchcock disdained the whodunit crime story, which he felt lacked emotional force, and ROPE shows the director's preference for letting the audience know more than the characters onscreen. The film opens as two young men (Farley Granger and John Dall) strangle a friend just to prove they're intellectually capable of committing the perfect crime. To add to the amusement, they hide the body in a trunk that will serve as the dinner table for a party honoring the deceased. The film hones in on an hour and a half of the party, with the constantly moving camera capturing the changing emotional atmosphere as the guests grow increasingly concerned about the fate of the missing boy. ROPE is a directorial tour de force, blending complex camera movement with intricate staging to present the entire story in near-real time in one location. Notably, the adaptation of the play by Patrick Hamilton was written by perennial Hitchcock actor Hume Cronyn.
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