Thursday 15 December 2011

Hand Me A Rope

I first heard of Rope when I was on the set of one of my short films. My lead actress told me of the play “Rope’s End” by Patrick Hamilton; a sinister tale of murder and intrigue. It aroused my interest so I did my research and found that Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope was the most well know filmed version of the play. I didn’t get what I was expecting!
Two...let’s call them friends (wink wink to the major homosexuality theme throughout the film)...strangle a classmate for intellectual thrills, then proceed to throw a party for the victim’s family and friends – with the body stuffed inside the trunk they use for a buffet table. As the killers turn the conversation to committing the “perfect murder”, their former teacher (James Stewart) becomes increasingly suspicious. Before the night is over the professor will discover how brutally his students have turned his academic theories into chilling reality.
Nothing in this movie works for me. The film is based on a play and I feel like I’m watching a play. Hitchcock films the entire movie in ten minute segments in an attempt to make the film run like one continual shot. The problem is he has to do these ugly and completely ridiculous close ups into the backs of characters costumes to mask the cut edits! There’s no fancy Hitchcock camera work and the sense of macabre that the movie promises is lost on me a little. The odd softly whimsical music during the opening credits doesn’t quite fit the mood of the film. 20 minutes in and I wish the movie would kick into some form of gear!
Thank God Jimmy Stewart finally arrives at the party! Things are beginning to look up! Stewart is endearing and witty, grabbing my full attention...but alas! He can’t save this film for me.
The idea of this film does excite me; I know who’s done it, I’m just waiting for the lead character to figure it out. However, I think a lot of the tension was taken out of the film by Hitchcock showing the murder in the first scene. If the audience had been left to guess whether there indeed was a body in the chest or not the picture would have been a lot more riveting.

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