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Rope (1948)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
28 August 1948 (USA)
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Tagline:
The guest who's dead on time more
Plot:
Two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
2 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(13 articles)
The Misanthrope, Rope and The Cat in the Hat | Theatre reviews
(From The Guardian - Film News. 19 December 2009, 4:05 PM, PST)
What to see: Lyn Gardner's theatre tips
(From The Guardian - Film News. 11 December 2009, 9:29 AM, PST)
(From The Guardian - Film News. 19 December 2009, 4:05 PM, PST)
What to see: Lyn Gardner's theatre tips
(From The Guardian - Film News. 11 December 2009, 9:29 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Innovation can't quite make this a masterpiece - but it's still worth watching
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Cast
(Complete credited cast)| James Stewart | ... | Rupert Cadell | |
| John Dall | ... | Brandon Shaw | |
| Farley Granger | ... | Phillip Morgan | |
| Cedric Hardwicke | ... | Mr. Kentley (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke) | |
| Constance Collier | ... | Mrs. Atwater | |
| Douglas Dick | ... | Kenneth Lawrence | |
| Edith Evanson | ... | Mrs. Wilson | |
| Dick Hogan | ... | David Kentley | |
| Joan Chandler | ... | Janet Walker |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (USA) (complete title)
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
80 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
USA:Approved (PCA #13027) |
USA:PG (TV rating) |
Portugal:M/12 |
Spain:T |
Iceland:L |
Brazil:14 |
South Korea:18 (2003) |
New Zealand:PG |
Portugal:(Banned) (original rating) |
Argentina:13 |
Australia:PG |
Canada:14A (video rating) |
Canada:AA (original rating) |
Finland:K-16 |
Germany:16 |
Norway:16 |
Sweden:11 (re-release) |
Sweden:15 (original rating) |
UK:PG
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
During filming, the cast had to avoid tripping on cables that laid over the floor, because of the moving cameras and lighting.
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Goofs:
Continuity: With a cigarette in his left hand, Brandon makes a quick phone call to the garage man. After he hangs up the phone he has no cigarette.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Code Name: Diamond Head (#7.8)" (1994)
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Soundtrack:
I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover
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FAQ
Is "Rope" based on a book?How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
Any recommendations for other movies by Alfred Hitchcock?
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'Rope', as many reviews here point out, is shot in a "real time" format. The movie lasts 80 minutes and takes place over a period of 80 minutes - with 10 8 minute takes spliced together smartly (such as switching when focused on a back) to give the appearance of one long take. Even current "real time" dramas such as "Nick of Time" or "24" use cuts - and perhaps justifiably.
"Rope" is about two college students - the slimy Brendon Shaw (John Dall) and his friend and sub-texted-gay-partner Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) who murder an old college mate and then, minutes after, host a dinner party to prove their calm, intellectual superiority and their "right" to kill off the lower echelons of society - they believe they are exempt from common morality. Central to this is their smug desire to show off their theory to their old mentor, Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), who is attending the party, and to get him to agree with their theories.
As the movie is essentially confined to one room, and one take, there's a definite "play" feel to the movie. While this worked wonderful with "12 Angry Men", the script and character interaction isn't quite smart enough here to sustain it. There's a lot of pontificating by Shaw, and some fine retorts by Cadell but there's a sense of forcedness about it at the same time. Only 3 of the characters are drawn with enough conviction, and it is only Cadell who we can really admire (Granger's Morgan seems to be too much of a nervous twitching type to add much to the movie). The script does allow us to gape with incredulity at the Nietzsche-esque theories of the "superman" espoused by Shaw, and the gay subtext is amusingly, and cleverly, done but there's an inevitability about the whole story - we know what will happen, it does, and this creates an ultimate lack of tension (when compared to, for example, Hitchock's "Vertigo").
The direction is, as would be expected, smart and - naturally - innovative here. The camera drifts about from character to character, as Hitchock tries his "one cut" approach, and there's some nice background detail (such as Hitchcock's flashing neon signs) to show the passage of time/current theme. Overall "Rope" is well worth seeing - it's not quite a failed experiment, nor a successful one. It's a "curio" which is worth appreciating for realizing why it was never really emulated since.