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A Movie A Week: ROPE (1948) You’re quite a good chicken strangler as I recall.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next installment of A Movie A Week.
[For those who new to the column, A Movie A Week is just that, a dedicated way for me explore vintage cinema every week. I’ll review a movie every Monday and each one will be connected to the one before it via a common thread, either an actor, director, writer, producer or some other crew member. Each film, pulled from my DVD shelf or recorded on the home DVR (I heart TCM) will be one I haven’t seen.]
Okay, fuck me. I think the Movie Geek Karma Gods are making me pay for getting audiences with Robert Downey Jr., James Cameron, Jon Favreau, Rachel McAdams (grrroowwwl), Mila Kunis (double grrooowwwlll) and Terry Gilliam at Comic-Con.
First they gave me the Nerd AIDS (known as the common head cold if not caught at Comic-Con), which I’m 99% sure I caught from ZOMBIELAND director Ruben Fleischer and then they struck down my computer with yet another logic board issue.
It was pretty entertaining, actually. Instead of just freezing up my Mac’s screen would literally end up looking like a frozen NES game with little blocks of pixels blinking in random places. Unlike Super Mario Bros I couldn’t just pull my video card and blow on it to make it work and now my computer is in the shop.
I was on my way back home after an impromptu road trip to Los Angeles (a pilgrimage to see Joe Dante’s The Movie Orgy and Gremlins Workprint… as well as a Roger Corman double feature with Mr. Corman live and in person!) and was literally in the middle of writing up this week’s AMAW when my computer froze for good.
Shit happens, but I wasn’t very happy. I was late on the last AMAW because of Comic-Con and a visit to Toronto and here I was without a working computer for a few days.
If you’re at all curious, I’m now working off of a few year old back up computer that is very slow and has a continually running fan that annoys the hell out of me, but it works, so there’s that. At least until I get my computer back from the shop early next week.
I was about halfway through my write-up of Alfred Hitchcock’s ROPE when my system went down, but thankfully I really loved the movie so I don’t mind going over that stuff again.
We this AMAW follows James Stewart over from CALL NORTHSIDE 777. In fact ROPE was released that very same year and marked Stewart’s first collaboration with Hitch.
This film’s notoriety comes from how Hitch shot it, opting for a stage-like feeling, making the audience feeling like they’re watching a play by not cutting often and when he does he tries to hide the edits.
I knew about this approach, but I realized instantly I had no idea what the actual movie was about. I guess that speaks volumes about Hitchcock as a director… that I could know one of his films solely on the technical way he filmed it.
The flick opens with a city street, then pan and slow push in on a shaded window. One of the only non-hidden cuts happens and we’re inside this apartment seeing young John Dall and young Farley Granger strangling a man to death, each with their hand on one end of a rope with this poor bastard’s neck in the middle.
Turns out these two young fellas are a bit on the crazy side, with Dall being the alpha male. They subscribe to a theory taught to them by one of their college professors that murder isn’t inherently wrong, but is only reserved for those who are special. That society’s rules are for the inferior.
The man they kill in this opening scene is a friend of theirs who has never done them any wrong. But these two are fucking crazy and just want to pull of a murder.
You know they’re crazy when they kill their friend off moments before a dinner party with all their mutual friends… and the victim’s own parents!
Granger is a nervous wreck. He’s not right in the head, but he immediately feels paranoid about getting caught. Dall on the other hand is cocksure… so much so that he’s not only inviting all their mutual friends, the victim’s parents and his girlfriend, but he also put the invitation out to the very same college professor that put it in his mind that he might be superior enough to commit murder and get away with it.
This is where Jimmy Stewart comes in, playing Rupert Cadell, the teacher.
It is this aspect I loved the most about the film. It’s a cat and mouse tale, a battle of wits between the young, confident murderer and his unwitting teacher.
Dall is such a prick in this movie. He makes the deceased’s parents literally eat off of their son’s deathbox, putting the body in a box in the living room and adorning it with the night’s wine and food. He’s flaunting it, dropping hints to Stewart and seeing if his old mentor catches on.
The exact opposite of Dall’s character is Granger who goes more and more insane with guilt and anxiety over being caught as the party goes on that eventually he’s reduced to little more than a blubbering mess.
Hitchcock’s decision to film this like a play is inspired. The takes are all long, nearing 10 minutes each if the trivia is correct… the length of the magazine, each take ending in a push in to someone’s back or something similar so the beginning of the next is hidden in the pull out of their back.
It’s not the smoothest of transitions, but Hitch very smartly chooses to having other bridging moments, like making this cut in the middle of a conversation so that one person asks a question and the other answers at the beginning of the next cut.
Filming it this way adds to the claustrophobia of the small apartment. I felt that more than any other character I was relating to Granger’s nervous ninny and I’d be surprised if Hitchcock intended anything else as the filmmaking choices all add up to emphasize the feeling that the world is shrinking and everybody’s eyes are being drawn to him.
I have no idea how hard this was to shoot and how much time they needed for it, but I can imagine it was a grueling task. All the actors are on the ball and deliver their performances without feeling theatrical. Somehow they manage to give subtle film performances in 10 minute blocks, not given the ability to focus those performances in 3-7 second bursts.
It’s a fascinating experiment and one that is pulled off without a hitch (yuk-yuk-yuk). Even more importantly the filmmaking adds to the story being told. I don’t think this particular story could have been told better if filmed in the standard way.
Even though I think it’d be a horrible idea, I couldn’t help but picture a remake and think of who the modern actors would be if such a thing happened. I know it doesn’t really work age-wise, but Dall reminded me a lot of Ben Affleck and Granger had me thinking of Topher Grace. Grace I’m sure could knock that neurotic performance off.
The real question is who could pull of Stewart’s role, that of the conflicted teacher who unintentionally inspires the murder of one of his students. What Stewart brings to the role is a quiet confidence that turns into a shocked sadness as what his kinda half-hearted hypothetical hatched. Tom Hanks has my vote if someone wants to redo this story.
But we all know if a remake happened the filmmakers would probably shoot it as a typical movie and take away everything that makes this film stand out. It wouldn’t be an actor’s showcase anymore, but a twist-and-turns thriller. Bleh.
Final Thoughts: Hitchock crafted a taut little movie with a strong focus on the actors’ ability to play long scenes naturally. It’s a quick flick at only 80 minutes, but that keeps the pace going, not allowing Hitchcock to drag any aspect on for too long. It’s a very fun and supremely entertaining flick, but that should be a given. I mean… it is Hitchcock…
Upcoming A Movie A Week Titles:
Monday, August 17th: THE SEVENTH CROSS (1944)
Monday, August 24th: TRACK OF THE CAT (1954)
Monday, August 31st: THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931)
Monday, September 7th: THE MAYOR OF HELL (1933)
As you can probably tell I’m not doing what I did with CALL NORTHSIDE 777 and holding the AMAW until Monday. I’ll keep my schedule going and have the next one up Monday. We’ll be following actor Hume Cronyn (who wrote the ROPE adaptation along with Arthur Laurents) to Fred Zinnemann’s THE SEVENTH CROSS starring Spencer Tracy, so keep your eyes peeled for that one come Monday… barring another computer catastrophe, of course.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
Previous AMAWs:
April 27th: How To Marry a Millionaire
May 4th: Phone Call From A Stranger
May 11th: Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte
May 18th: Too Late The Hero
May 25th: The Best Man
June 1st: The Catered Affair
June 8th: The Quiet Man
June 15th: Rio Grande
June 22nd: The Getaway
June 29th: The Mackintosh Man
July 6th: The Long, Hot Summer
July 13th: Journey Into Fear
July 20th: How The West Was Won
August 3rd: Call Northside 777
Click here for the full 215 movie run of A Movie A Day!
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The lack of photoshop forces more artistry.
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you gotta do an AMAD review of that before Adam Greens Frozen comes out. I love showing it to people who havent seen it. Very good flick.
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I have it on my Instant Netflix. Not sure if it'll make the column in any form, but I do plan on watching it. Been hearing about that one for years and it was the literally the first title I added to my queue when I got Netflix on my 360.
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Aug 14, 2009 6:17:51 AM CDT
I'd pick Liam Neeson or Hugh Laurie to play Stewart's role.
by juansanchez
Hanks just isn't commanding enough for me, and Stewart is commanding in Rope.
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Mitchum chewing the scenery is fun, but watching uncomfortable family drama is tough when there's supposed to be a monster panther on the loose. It's only 102 minutes, but it feels like 2 hours easily.
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for the reason you said, it's an actor's showcase while at the same time being technically sound. by that I mean Hitch didn't have to resort to any tricks or flashes or cuts to make a good solid film. It just is
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The new project from half of the League of Gentlemen did an excellent homage to this recently. Worth a look if you haven't already seen it.
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But did they have Hitchcock's face on advertising as early as 1948? Ir was that for a re-release?
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Granted the movie is an adaptation of the play with the same name, but the story itself is inspired by the Leopold and Leob murder in Chicago in the 1920s. Same concept...they killed a boy just for the thrill and feeling of superiority.
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I´ve read somewhere that Hitchcock intended the two guys to be a gay couple. And some small signs in this film support the idea. It seems like it was the first time in history that the two main characters in a mainstream movie were homosexuals.
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The spun glass clouds, signs, buildings... Great stuff. I love this movie.
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If not, this rope is inferior and of poor quality.
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--is the way I could imagine a remake working some new magic. Someone convince Clooney to indulge his love of vintage broadcasts again (in the "Fail Safe" vein), and I'd absolutely tune in. Maybe only one commercial break between "acts" and otherwise filmed in two single takes.
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I'm kinda surprised you didn't mention the gay thing. I mean, these two guys are clearly a couple, right? They live together in this apartment, they travel together, they behave like a couple in every way short of making out. I've always felt it was an important aspect of the film, especially in that day and age.
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Well, who's the cat and who's the mouse...?!
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...the one movie by him I can watch over and over and be just as entertained as the first time I ever saw it.
The performances by everybody are excellent.
And yes, Brandon and Phillip are gay. -
... The something of the something...or was it just plain something?
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No squeaky wheels on the cameras, or the breakaway sets, as one single squeak and the take would have been ruined. Quite a brave venture!
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Particularly for its philosophical subtext, which Quint kinda glossed over. The idea of the superman unbound by conventional morality is, of course, a concept of Nietzsche's. People with delusions of grandeur declaring themselves to be above morality is a perversion of that idea. Among other things, the film is about the difference of the removed, academic discussion of a radical idea, and its adoption and execution by an unthinking audience. Contemporary audiences probably made a connection to Nazi Germany.
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See the Orson Welles movie "Compulsion," also based on the Leopold & Loeb case.
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to Dostoyevsky's _Crime and Punishment_, where the lead character commits a murder to convince himself that he's a superior being who transcends good and evil. (Spoiler alert: things go badly.)
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I just saw this for the first time a few months ago and was completely enthralled. I'm still a bit on the fence as to whether or not the "one-shot" technique really helps the story at all, as the only moments that ever took me out of the film were the more obvious masked cuts. That being said, I loved the characters and was so drawn into the story, it really left me wanting more.
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One of our favorite household lines that's used a lot. Rope gets a lot of airplay in this house!
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"...I realized instantly I had no idea what the actual movie was about. I guess that speaks volumes about Hitchcock as a director… that I could know one of his films solely on the technical way he filmed it." Actually it speaks volumes about what an idiot hack you are. "Writing about films" is your job and you didn't know what Rope was about? Not to mention you've never *seen* it till now? Who did you blow to get this job?
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You only suggested Tom Hanks to play a James Stewart role because you know Spielberg is remaking Harvey and Spielberg loves Tom Hanks. You're banking on that so you can say I told you so. Just because you have Wikipedia, IMDB, and the rest of the internet doesn't make you a movie geek. It just shows you can do research.
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No one can take a classic James Stewart role and successfully remake it. He IS the character. Anyone else would create another (lesser) character or try to imitate him (which would be worse).
*Rear Window w/ Christopher Reeve -
Without thinking about remaking it? I love Rope and couldn't imagine it without the actors or it's defining technique.
Just leave it be. -
A sandra Bullock "conventional twisty-thiller." And yeah, it was basically "eh, ok I guess."------later-----m
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...from interviews I've read, Hitchcock knew it the "ten-minute take" thing was a mistake almost from the beginning....after observing the set actually rolling out of the actors' way as both they and the camera moved around, Stewart remarked to Hitch that he ought to be charging money for crowds to come in and look at it. Truly a one-of-a-kind movie and I never miss a TCM showing of it...
I too love John Dall's Snidely Whiplash thrill-killer..this movie and Gun Crazy practically make him a movie icon. The only other work of his that still sticks in my mind is his villainous turn in George Pal's "Atlantis The Lost Continent" (giggling as he uses a giant crystal to laser-zap helpless people)..and his role as the snivelling Roman noble in "Spartacus" -
Very under-appreciated Hitchcock gem. Glad you finally discovered it. Check out THE LADY VANISHES if you haven't done so yet.
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He's a smarmy pansy that makes me retch. Stewart was an American hero.
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I'm working my way through a Hitch boxset, just watched Rope recently-very enjoyable, John Dall is great. Some feel Stewart was miscast.
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And I belief that Montgomery Clift was going to be cast in this as well. I think if that was the case the "homosexual" subtext would have been more apparent.
Personally, I agree with Hitchcock and a lot of his scholars that this is lesser Hitchcock - an interesting experiment but not one of his better works. Having said that, doesn't it speak volumes that one of his failed experiments is 10,000 times more interesting than some directors best works? -
and kinda in the vein of this here column. He picks his top 20 "movies to revisit during the summer" or some such thing. Here's the list, because I'm bored.
20. White Heat
19. Mr. Peabody & the Mermaid (?)
18. Point Blank
17. Titanic (WTF?!!!, Not making this up!)
16. Saturday Night Fever (again, WTF?!)
15. Curse of the Demon/Night of the Demon (hellz yeah!)
14. 1941
13. Cujo (Yeah, he picked a movie based on one of his own books)
12. The Caine Mutiny
11. The Thing (Carpenter's version)
10. Dr. Strangelove
09. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
08. Kiss of Death
07. Die Hard
06. The Blues Brothers
05. The Blair Witch Project
04. The Wild Bunch
03. Sling Blade
02. Wages of Fear
01. Sorcerer
Now King claims he rents these movies from a video store, but I find it hard to believe somebody with his bank account ever rents anything. Still, I dig his list.
This seems like something AICN should cover. I now have to put Sorcerer at the top of my Netflix queue.
Alas, I still have to rent my movies. -
I think I was like 12, and thought the the cutting between scenes was weird (as in how they weren't very visible).I could kinda tell what was being cut, but just shortly before this I seen that Bruce Lee movie that had really bad cuts (the one he died before finishing, and he fights the pilot from Airplane) and wondered why a film thirty years younger looked better (I now know why).
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Screenwriter Authur Laurents was disappointed that Hitch reveals that they defintiely kiled hima t the beginning.
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Quick note: Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier) was NOT David Kentley's mother, so Dall and Granger's characters didn't serve dinner to David's PARENTS. Rather, Mrs. Atwater was David's aunt (Mrs. Kentley was home with a cold and missed the dinner--Mr. Kentley et al call her during the course of dinner). Of course, this doesn't change the fact that Dall and Granger's characters were homicidal fucks. --G
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in the anniversary edition(the red velvet one) it says there was only three cuts the whole film
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Wow. An entire review of "Rope" without a single mention of the Leopold and Loeb murderers or the fact that the characters are supposed to be gay, just like Leopold and Loeb? Amazing.
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Leopold and Loeb?
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Hey, someone had to say it.
This is my second favourite Hitchcock/Stewart film. #1 is Rear Window. #3 is Vertigo. #4 is Man Who Knew Too Much (or as I call it Woman Who Sang Too Much) -
Up there with Vertigo, NBNW and Psycho IMO.
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Damned comic-con. I love it, but I am always left with a strong feeling of sadness when its over. I always get the cold too- which makes the post-con depression even worse.
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Teh gay is an important part of the movies's history and the film itself.
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