Rope [Blu-ray]

An Overlooked Classic Finally Given Its Due
Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, the first film that the Master of Suspense filmed in Technicolor, has languished in largely undeserved mediocrty since its release in 1948. The film didn't do well theatrically in the US, and subsequent versions (VHS) were made from terrible-quality originals. Finally, Universal has seen fit to release on DVD a marvelously restored version of a truly fine film.

Rope, based on a play of the same name, which was in turn based on a real murder case in 1924, opens with two friends - played by John Dall and Farley Granger - strangling a classmate with a length of rope. The body is then stuffed in a trunk that the two use as a buffet table during an upcoming dinner party - a party partially in their murdered friend's honor.

As the movie progresses, the friends' professor - played exceedingly well by James Stewart in one of his best-acted roles - eventually begins to suspect the crime. As the two students engage him in a discussion about Nietzschian...

ROPED IN
Based on an actual murder case and directed by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, Rope tells the story of two very close, well to do roommates Phillip and Brandon who strangle David, an old school chum, just for kicks. To further increase the exhilaration of their dastardly deed, the duo deem it delicious to desecrate the dead by placing his body into a chest and serving their dinner party guests a banquet on its decorated top. The guests of honor at this most perverse soirée include their former prep school professor Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), the murder victim's parents, his fiancé, and her former boyfriend. This tapestry provides tension for Phillip as he is nervous about being caught and questions abound as to David's whereabouts. Interestingly, Brandon feels smug even justified as he views the act of murder to be relegated to a select superior few.

Rope explores Nietzsche's concept of the "übermensch" or "superman" in which...

"Nothing has ever held you like Alfred Hitchcock's ROPE!"
ROPE is a very experimental-and highly underrated-Hitchcock film. The film (based on the play ROPE'S END and, although loosely, the Leopold-Loeb murder) begins when two young men (John Dall and Farley Granger) murder a college student for fun and because he is a "lesser" man. As a celebration they throw a party inviting the victim's parents, his girlfriend, her ex-boyfriend who Dall would like to put her with, and their old college teacher (James Stewart). ROPE is a highly entertaining and suspenseful film. The experimental angle comes as the film was shot entirely in eight ten-minute takes, (or was that ten eight-minute takes?) giving the impression that it was all one shot. The casting is great, with Dall perfect as the psychotic murderer, Sir Cedric Hardwicke memorable as the victim's father, and Stewart...well, you can't say too many good things about him, though it takes him a while to appear. While not as good as some of Hitchcock's earlier (THE 39 STEPS,...

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