Rope | James Stewart | An Expiremental Achievement in Directing and Acting

Rope | James Stewart | The More You Watch, the Tighter the Suspense Grows

DVDs:

Rope

	Rope James Stewart Warner Bros. Pictures, 2006 average customer review:based on 127 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

James Stewart stars with Farley Granger and John Dall in a highly-charged thriller inspired by the real-life Leopold-Loeb murder case. Granger and Dall give riveting performances as two friends who 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 (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 in Hitchcock s spellbinding excursion into the macabre.System Requirements:Running Time: 81 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: PG UPC: 025192831126 Manufacturer No: 28311

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An Expiremental Achievement in Directing and Acting

Rope is in a different Hitchcock clas altogether. Coming off the success of two features with Ingrid Bergman (Spellbound - Criterion Collection, Notorious - Criterion Collection) Hitchcock decided to try an expirement in his next film.

It plays like a well adapted play on screen. Broken into 8 sections by seamingly unnoticed takes, Rope is an achievement in every sense of the word. Noy only in directorial prowess but in story effectiveness and acting. Constant acting for nearly 10 minutes, although not imposiblem but extremely difficult, is a daunting task for even the most respected of actors. The constant positioning, the perfection of lines. It was a difficult task for everyone in front of and behind the camera.

With that being said, there's an excellent plot as well. Two students murder a man, stuff him in a trunk, then host a dinner party, giving clues to their former teacher to solve the murder all the while. Quite engaging and envigoring. Another reason Hitchcock is known as "The Master of Suspense".

Recommended to all those that love fabulous direction, a gallant thriller, and an engaging story.

Must See.

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The More You Watch, the Tighter the Suspense Grows

Brandon (John Dall) and Phillip (Farley Granger) feel they are superior to their friends in every way. As such, they think they can plan the perfect murder and get away with it. Their victim is David Kentley (Dick Hogan). And to prove just how superior they are, they invite his family and friends over for a dinner party with his still cooling body in a trunk in the room.

Among the guests is their old school advisor Rupert (James Stewart), the only person Brandon thinks can figure out what they've done. Will they get away with murder? If not, which will give them away first, Brandon's arrogance or Phillip's guilty conscience?

This is a very intriguing psychological thriller. Based on a play, the movie was filmed on one rather limited set and was filmed in as few takes as possible. While those transitions (to reload film) are obvious, the constant rolling of the camera adds to the suspense. There are some strange camera angles at times, but they build the suspense as well. The limited set is an added bonus as it focuses our attention to build the suspense.

The acting is absolutely wonderful. While it does suffer at times from the overacting prevalent at the time (at least by today's standards), it captures the characters and their emotions perfectly. This is especially true of John Dall and Fraley Granger who bring such nuance to their characters we always know their thoughts. Their two characters are rich enough for some pretty in depth character studies.

To be honest, I found how much I enjoyed this movie a little disturbing. It will entertain you and make you think for some time afterward. So if you have missed this gem, watch it today.

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Good mid-period Hitchcock

Rope is an excellent experimental film from the master of suspense. Hitchcock decided for this film to try and make it look like one continuous take. This is quite cleverly done, but once you've seen it you will always spot where the cuts are. For a film made in 1949 the colour print is very good.

Loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb murder case from 20 or so years earlier, it centres around one room where 2 students murder a fellow student. Nothing given away here this is the opening scene. James Stewart plays the professor who begins to suspect there might be something going on. As always Hitchcock produces a couple of classic scenes, perhaps the best of which is where it looks as the housemaid might might find the body. This is brilliantly filmed and a typical piece of Hitchcock magic.

The lack of justification for the murder also raises moral issues that James Stewart's character ultimately firmly rebuts. So as always there is more going on in a Hitchcock film than first meets the eye. This is well worth buying.

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An overlooked masterpiece

I was a kid when I first saw ROPE, some 15 years ago. I vividly remembered that scene of the maid cleaning up after the party - the camera nailed down to one spot; just the one view of the maid clearing-off the table/chest, unaware of its ghastly contents. You watch her up close as she picks up plates from atop the chest and then she walks into the distance to the kitchen and then she comes back to us to take more things off the chest and then goes away again, back and forth, again and again, cleaning, working her way closer and closer --- all the while you know what's inside that chest and that, once she clears it off, if she were to look inside...

...and you wait and watch in euphoric agony.

And it was then, all those years ago, watching Rope, watching that scene, I first understood what it was a director did (or at least one of the most important things he does). I understood the director's role in how the story is told - from what the camera reveals and how the images are presented to you. There's an intelligent design behind the unfolding of the story that is a character in itself. It has a tangible personality. And that character is rarely as vivid and forceful than when it's Hitchcock.

I saw Rope for the second time just a few days ago and it is even better than I remembered. But, for me, it's a stretch to believe Jimmy Stewart could or would want to expound upon Nietzschean philosophy. He's exudes too much homespun wholesomeness to be talking about the Übermensch. Gregory Peck might have been a better choice for that role. He can seem dark and brooding while conveying enough inner goodness to keep the audience's affection, if that was the goal in choosing Stewart. James Mason would be even better and that would have made it a very dark picture, but perhaps too dark for the time.

Still, ROPE is Hitchcock using all his powers of suspense and his genius for direction. Notorious, Psycho, North By Northwest and The Birds may get a lot of attention, but this is a film no Hitchcock fan should miss and it is too often overlooked. Also be sure to watch the extras, there is a very illuminating little documentary piece you should see.

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