Rope

Can't believe I'm only seeing this now. It's great. Basically a play. There couldn't have been more than 15 shots. Ending had me in tears. Shouts out

Rope was the first Alfred Hitchcock/James Stewart collaboration. They would go on to do "Rear Window", "The Man Who Knew Too Much", and finally, "Vertigo". This being the first, and also a kind of experimental film on Hitchcock's part, it is the weakest of the four. Shot as a play, mainly in one room, and with only a handful of cast members, the concept of how it was done is intriguing even today. Done in roughly a dozen takes, the only times that the camera ever cuts are when it closes in on someone's back and then angles around to the other side. That's the tell-tale sign of the only cuts in the entire film.

John Dall's acting is commendable, in the part of the more ruthless killer, Brandon Shaw. He's a very cool character, and f...

Now I may be completely off beam here, but there is something ever so slightly homo-erotic about the relationship between John Dall ("Brandon") and Farley Granger ("Philip") in this rather clunky murder tale that is less of a mystery and more of a bragging exercise. The two, having murdered their college friend "David" invite some folks round for a dinner party that shows the pair - especially Dall - as obnoxious men with a profoundly mis-placed superiority complex. As their odiousness is enhanced by over-confidence and drink, their former school master "Rupert" (Jimmy Stewart) starts to suspect that there is more to the absence of "David" (the more suspicious because his father, Sir Cedric Hardwicke has come to the supper) than meets the e...

Somebody should have stopped Hitchcock from all this innovating business

It ends with a shot Like no film ever did that.

Rope is often praised for its technical ambition but falls flat in genuine suspense. The single-take gimmick overshadows the storytelling, leaving it feeling more like a stage play trapped in a cinematic format. Jimmy Stewarts earnest charm feels misplaced here; his usual gravitas is oddly muted, making his presence more distracting than commanding. John Dall is the real standout, injecting a sinister flair into an otherwise tepid cast. The much-lauded homosexual subtext cant compensate for the lack of tension or stakes. A fascinating experiment, but certainly not Hitchcock at his best.