Rope (1948)

Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Hume Cronyn (adapted by), Patrick Hamilton (from the play by)

Stars:

James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger

3 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

Brandon and Philip are two young men who share a New York City apartment. They consider themselves intellectually superior to their friend David Kentley, and as a consequence, decide to murder him. Together they strangle David with a rope and placing the body in an old chest, they proceed to hold a small party. The guests include David's father, his fiancée Janet, and their old schoolteacher Rupert, from whom they mistakenly took their ideas. As Brandon becomes increasingly more daring, Rupert begins to suspect.

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Plot Keywords:

gay subtext | rope | long take | murder | perfect murder | 

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Taglines:

The guest who's dead on time

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,046

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Transatlantic Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final theatrical movie of Joan Chandler (Janet).

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Goofs

As the movie begins, the murder victim is heard to shout, and there is an instant cut to the murders, who have just completed strangling the victim with the eponymous rope still around the victim's neck. If the victim was being strangled, he could not have shouted.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Brandon: [David screams, to Phillip] Open it.
[they put David in the trunk and close it]

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Crazy Credits

In the end credits, the first credit is for the character of David Kentley who is only seen for a couple of seconds and has no spoken lines. Most of the other characters are listed with a descriptive phrase showing their relationship to David Kentley, or relationship among each other, just above the credit line(s) listing the character name and actor. The description and character name pairings are as follows: His friends - Brandon, Phillip; Their housekeeper - Mrs. Wilson; David's rival - Kenneth; David's girl - Janet; His father - Mr. Kentley; His aunt - Mrs. Atwater. The last character listed, Rubert Cadell, is the only one besides David Kentley without such a descriptive phrase. Also, David Kentley and Rupert Cadell are the only characters listed with both first and last names.

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Connections

Referenced in 'Rear Window' Ethics: Remembering and Restoring a Hitchcock Classic (2000)

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Soundtracks

I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover
(1928) (uncredited)
Music by Harry M. Woods
Played on the radio by The Three Suns when Rupert is talking to Mrs. Wilson

User Reviews

A Good Hitchcock Film From The 1940s

These "stage plays" made into movies usually bore me to death but this one was a notch above the tedious and too-talky Alfred Hitchcock films of the 1940s.

John Dall, who went on to "cult status" fame with "Gun Crazy" (a.k.a. "Deadly Is The Female) two years later, was the most interesting character in this film. He played "Brandon Shaw." His partner-in-crime, "Philip Morgan," played by Farley Granger, was the annoyingly-wimpy guy who cracked under the pressure. The biggest name actor in the movie is James Stewart but these other two guys are the main stars.

As people know, this is about two smug, college males who think they have pulled off the perfect crime because of their supposedly superior intellect and elitist attitude. It's based on a true-life event, famously labeled "The Leopold and Loeb Case." No sense going into more details since other reviewers have done that, and done it well.

Suffice to say, this is well-acted, has a good amount of black humor with the dialog and has people that are easy to root against. Two things that are different from normal film fare of the day: it's in "real time" and it's in color. Some criticize the famous director for using the real-time method, but I give him credit for trying something new and bold. That "gimmick" certainly has worked in the successful TV series, "24."

"Rope" is definitely worth a look if you've never seen it, just to see what happens to these arrogant punks. I found subsequent viewings less appealing as more and more of the characters in here (i.e. the old lady who preaches astrology, the annoying young woman, etc.) became unappealing. Stll, I think this is Sir Alfred's best work of the 1940s.