Rope (1948; Sir Alfred Hitchcock)

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I wanted to revisit "Rope" (1948) and was off from work for President's Day, and I had an urge to watch a Hitchcock film. In some Hitchcock circles, "Rope" is one of his best. Others probably wouldn't put "Rope" in their very top favorites of his oeuvre. I have always felt the more I watch "Rope" the more I like and admire it. From a structural standpoint, the "long take" method few directors employ after the film is incredibly difficult to pull off and Hitchcock had to really put in the work (and, especially, his cast and crew) to get it just right. You see the camera go to the back of John Dall and that is the cue of a "cut". But the film's diabolical villain, Dall, and his lover and assistant in the strangulation murder of a friend named David, Granger, dump the body in a chest, apply table dressing, candles, and dishes with food for party guests (including David's father, played by Cedric Hardwicke). Among those guests is an aunt of David's and their esteemed professor played by Stewart (who felt too young to play the part, miscast, even though I think his fans consider the role a memorable one). Stewart (unfortunately to him) sort of contributed to the idea of Dall to bump off David because he was "inferior" to him. Stewart spends the film an emotional wreck, trying and failing miserably to maintain a facade of control while Dall is outright exhilarated and energetically charged from the whole experience.

The film set in one location makes "Rope" quite unique, considering Hitchcock films are often escapist fare with the sophisticates often innocents wronged, looking to right the wrongs imposed against them. While the setting itself is quite an impressive apartment with the city outside the big picture window quite a backdrop, exclusive plot located within that location, Hitchcock films are not notable for staying in such limited confines. But Hitchcock, his cast and crew, sure made this experiment damned effective.

The very end, I imagine folks at the time were quite concerned for Stewart, who leaves the apartment and returns, knowing quite well his pupils killed David. Maybe the hat the busybody, flapping-gums maid (Evanson) accidentally handed him was a clue, but Granger's excessive drinking, Dall's protectiveness of the chest (books are almost put in it), Granger's reaction to a conversation involving choking the neck of a chicken (saying he didn't, but Stewart reminds him of their visit to the farm), and a rope tied around books for Hardwicke (a sick bit of humor by Dall as a punctuation of his murderous deed) to carry home were also clues that tipped him off that something was wrong.

The performances are really depended on a lot to make the film work. Dall is confidant, cocksure, swaggering, assured, and undeterred in his efforts to mock the murder of someone of his acquaintance. Granger was the one with the rope and tightened squeeze, and he certainly doesn't take the same thrill of the kill as Dall. Granger is always on the verge of breaking while Dall is the one who must steel him from falling apart. With each drink, though, Granger's fragile grip decreases. Dall, though, rarely ever dissolves from his resolve. Stewart, the professor and intellectual, gradually sees what others do not (or wouldn't look for). His conversation with the maid about his pupils' behavior prior to the party and the chest being chosen as the dining arrangement instead of the table. Stewart, at the end, would seem to be surrounded and fated similar to David...a gun, Hitchcock cleverly follows, in Dall's coat pocket plants a nervous thought of what might happen in our minds. How Stewart works his way out of that bit of business, get the gun, bring the law to the apartment, see the body, and secure his safety is quite a feat!

The mastery of a single location and keeping us captivated takes a lot of skill. Hitchcock has the right cast to do that. There is this bit of showing off at the end where Stewart takes us through different areas of the house as he explains just how David was lured to the apartment and killed with the camera telling us the story right before we are brought to Dall and Stewart strangling the victim. 

I didn't want to fail to mention another part of the story besides the murder and those involved in it and the one eventually exposing it: Chandler was David's girlfriend, and Dick was once Chandler's boyfriend. Dall takes out David, and he plots to orchestrate the romance of Chandler and Dick. So not only does Dall kill David but he also looks to return David's girlfriend to her former boyfriend. This whole story is a devious mind at play. Dall is quite a sophisticated psychopath, with Granger clearly his manipulated lover willing to obediently do his bidding. The very dom and sub dynamic is quite clear. By the end, though, Granger just didn't have Dall's control and vigor. Granger barely held himself together, taking to the piano to find his peace. When Stewart goes to Granger when he's playing and rattles his cage, it's further proof that this guy is holding on to a thread.

 

 *Rope, seen in a form to be appreciated