Film Review - Rope

                                                    (Fig 1, Movie Poster)

Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rope' is a very suspenseful, psychological thriller. The film is based around the true murder case of Leopold-Loeb, who in 1924 kidnapped and murdered a 14 year old boy. Like the real case the two main roles in the film are interested in the idea of "innate superiority", which is what leads to the murder. 

                                                       (Fig 2, Movie Still)

" A crowd of squirming spectators was bread-and-butter to Hitchcock" (Pamela H, 2012) This sums up the way in which Hitchcock used suspense in his films. In particularly this scene where the housemaid is starting to clean up the plates from the dinner and is slowly getting closer to finding the body. During this scene the camera completely focuses on the maid, in the background the other characters are still talking but all we can see is her. Each time she goes to collect things off of the truck is another wave of tension. Hitchcock gives us the information about the murder so the whole time we are waiting for the two killers to get caught. However, since the other characters don't know this, the scene becomes more suspenseful as to will they find the body.  

                                                      (Fig 3, Movie Still)

Throughout the film it's implied and calls back to the original murder, which the two original killers were homosexual. This was an issue at the time of the release of this film. "The heavily implied homosexuality of the murderers saw the film banned in a number of American cities" (Darren R, 2017) However, the key piece of symbolism is the scene where after the murder Brandon lights a cigarette and later on Phillip asks how it felt. The way in which the two characters interact certainly implies homosexuality but without being over the top and taking away from the suspense of the murder. 

                                                          (Fig 4, Set Photo)

"He choreographed his actors so that they and the camera could perform intricate ballets without interrupting the action." (Roger E, 1984) In the Hitchcock tries to hide the cuts to make it look seemingly continuous. There's one scene where the cut is hidden by one of the characters coats to then carry on the illusion. By Hitchcock doing this it allows the audience to react to whats going on at the same time as the actors. This adds to the element of suspense because it allows us to follow the characters right up until the point where the body is found.


Illustrations 

Fig 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_(film)

Fig 2 - https://lisathatcher.com/2012/09/15/rope-hitchcock-tricking-you-into-seeing-whats-there-when-its-the-unspeakable-there/

Fig 3 - https://them0vieblog.com/2012/05/23/non-review-review-rope/

Fig 4 - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/10696117836256703/?lp=true

Bibliography 

Ebert, R. (1984). Rope Movie Review & Film Summary (1948) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rope-1948 [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018].

Hutchinson, P. (2012). My favourite Hitchcock: Rope. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/27/my-favourite-hitchcock-rope [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018].

Richman, D. (2017). Movies You Might Have Missed: Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/movies-you-might-have-missed-alfred-hitchcock-rope-james-stewart-cary-grant-a7592306.html [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018].