Rope (1948)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Patrick Hamilton (play)
Hume Cronyn (adaptation)

Release Date:

28 August 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The guest who's dead on time

Plot:

Two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime.

Plot Keywords:

Party | Chest | Friend | Murder | Intellectual

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

James Stewart	...	Rupert Cadell
John Dall	...	Brandon Shaw
Farley Granger	...	Phillip Morgan
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Mr. Kentley (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
Constance Collier	...	Mrs. Atwater
Douglas Dick	...	Kenneth Lawrence
Edith Evanson	...	Mrs. Wilson
Dick Hogan	...	David Kentley
Joan Chandler	...	Janet Walker

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #13027) | USA:PG (TV rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Iceland:L | Brazil:14 | South Korea:18 (2003) | New Zealand:PG | Portugal:(Banned) (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Canada:14A (video rating) | Canada:AA (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:11 (re-release) | Sweden:15 (original rating) | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Transatlantic Pictures

Trivia:

The star signs that Mrs Atwater states for the movie actors she discusses are in each case correct: James Mason really was a Taurus, Cary Grant a Capricorn, and Ingrid Bergman a Virgo, just as she says.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: Philip's piano playing does not match the music playing.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Brandon: Open it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hitchcocked! (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover

81 minutes of sheer Hitchcock fear

I just saw this movie for the first time this year. I was amazed. Alfred Hitchcock does an absolutely amazing job of making the audience cringe. I read reviews about this movie saying that it wasn't well accepted by the audience when it first came out. But that is understandable because a lot of great classics aren't accepted when first released. One big example is The Shawshank Redemption, which didn't do as well as it should have in the box office. That doesn't make the content or the worth of the film any less. Rope was the twisted story based on the real life murder case of Leopold-Loeb. Two college students commit the "perfect murder" and invite the friends and family of their victim over for dinner. The acting is superb, especially from everyone's favorite, James Stewart. The fear builds slowly as this movie keeps you interested by morbid discussion that everyone has thought at one time or another. This movie really did creep me out, and although it might not be as thrilling as Rear Window or North by Northwest, it will not disappoint. You will be biting your nails for sure waiting to see what happens to the seemingly "perfect murder". I would easily give this movie an 8 out of 10.