Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 “Rope”

Rope was the first film that Alfred Hitchcock (b.1899-1980) shot in vibrant Technicolor. Key to Hitchcock’s popularity is his ability to produce psychological tension through the simplest of techniques. In this case, the entire film takes place within the very room where the murder occurs. The film focuses on two men, Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) and Brandon Shaw (John Dall), who host a dinner party after strangling a classmate with a piece of rope as a sadistic exercise committed solely on the principle of proving that they can commit the perfect crime without consequence. Arrogantly, they store the body in plain sight in a chest in the middle of the room. In this way, the object of desire (the victim) remains present for the duration of the film, yet out of sight. They invite their college professor (James Stewart) and the fiancée of their victim, amongst others, to play unknowingly in their Hand of God game.

Relying heavily on dialogue and theatrical in its staging, the cinematography stands out amongst his other films in that it features what appears to be a single long take. Rather than making abrupt cuts, the camera disappears into the back of Brandon's coat, creating the illusion of a single, painstakingly long take. In reality, the film consists of approximately ten cuts carefully stitched together. This technique helps to place you as the spectator within the crime, a bystander in first-person perspective, creating an illusion that the event is happening in real time over the course of an evening. Set solely inside their apartment, the two criminals, and thus the viewer, never leave the scene of the crime. From the start of the film, we know who the murderers are, yet Hitchcock retains an element of suspense that keeps you engaged until the very end. Do they commit the crime for the thrill of it, to grow more closely bonded to one another, or for the approval of their beloved professor? Subversive and ahead of its time, the homosexual subtext of the film lingers far beyond the screen and remains one of Hitchcock’s greatest overlooked masterpieces.