ROPE feels like a stage play which isn't surprising as it is based on a play by Patrick Hamilton called Rope's End about a real life murder committed by two University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in 1924. But Hitchcock moves the camera, following characters down a hallway or pushing in on them during a dramatic moment or focusing on a key prop. Hitchcock called making ROPE a "stunt." When I first saw ROPE, I wasn't that impressed but upon further review, ROPE is engaging, suspenseful, and a bit morbid. ROPE was one of five Hitchcock films that was lost temporarily to moviegoers until 1984 when Hitchcock's daughter Patricia along with Universal Studios re-released them after a thirty year absence. ROPE is the first Hitchcock film that James Stewart would appear in (it turns out it was Stewart's least favorite of the four films he did with Hitchcock). ROPE is also the first color film that Alfred Hitchcock would make.
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| Despite the black and white stills, ROPE was Alfred Hitchcock's first color film. |
Actor/screenwriter Hume Cronyn adapted ROPE from the Hamilton play with Arthur Laurents writing the final screenplay. Ironically, Cronyn had a supporting part in Hitchcock's SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943) as a neighbor who theorizes with Teresa Wright's father about different murder cases and who the culprit might be. In reality, Cronyn adapted ROPE from a play about two murderers trying to hide their crime. Hitchcock opens ROPE with a shock. A tight close up on David Kentley (Dick Hogan) with a rope around his neck as he's strangled by two of his former classmates Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) in the middle of the afternoon in their apartment. Brandon and Phillip should dispose of the body immediately but they hide it in an unlocked trunk in the living room. Brandon and Phillip are throwing a party later that evening. Brandon insists the trunk be used as a serving table.
Their unsuspecting house servant Mrs. Wilson (Edith Evanson) arrives soon after to prepare for the party. The guests begin to arrive including Janet (Joan Chandler), the dead David's fiancée and her ex-boyfriend Kenneth Lawrence (Douglas Dick); David's father Mr. Kentley (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and David's aunt Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier), and the most important guest of all Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), a former prep school housemaster to all the young men including Brandon and Phillip. Sociopath Brandon considers the murder a work of art and the party a diabolical way to get away with it under everyone's nose.
When the guests start to wonder where David is, the tension in ROPE begins to build. The topic of murder comes up which Mr. Kentley finds morbid. Phillip begins to show signs of cracking. This only emboldens Brandon. He repeatedly tries to reconnect Janet with her old flame Kenneth since David has failed to show. Mrs. Wilson reveals to Rupert that the two men have been acting strange all afternoon which arouses Rupert's curiosity. Rupert probes the two men. It's only when Rupert accidentally discovers a hat in the closet with David's initials that he truly realizes what his two former pupils have done.
The guests all leave for the evening. Brandon and Phillip believe they have gotten away with their perfect crime. They plan to drive up to Connecticut that night where they will dispose of David's body. But then Rupert calls. He has forgotten his cigarette case and asks if he can come back up to the apartment to look for it. Phillip doesn't want Rupert to come back up but Brandon relishes the opportunity. Rupert reveals he knows what Brandon and Phillip have done. Brandon tells Rupert the two men were inspired by Rupert's thesis about intellectual superiority and getting away with the murder of an inferior. Rupert wrestles a gun away from Phillip and calls the police. Phillip finds solace playing the piano as the three of them wait for the authorities.
ROPE is one of many Hitchcock films that has a handsome, well educated psychopath (or sociopath) committing murder. In ROPE's case, two handsome young men trying to get away with the perfect murder. From Ivor Novello in THE LODGER (1927) to Joseph Cotton in SHADOW OF A DOUBT to Robert Walker in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) and Anthony Perkins in PSYCHO (1960), these villains don't have scars or a missing eye or bad teeth. What's different with ROPE is that the two killers are homosexual (or it's implied). I couldn't find any evidence that the real killers Leopold and Loeb were gay but Hamilton's play has a homosexual subtext with even a subplot that Rupert had an affair with one of the boys. In 1948, the topic of homosexuality would have been too controversial to address yet Hitchcock doesn't shy away from it. John Dall as Brandon is the more confident, brazen partner. Farley Granger as Phillip is the weaker, more feminine one. The film doesn't imply that the two men murdered their classmate because they were gay (although their reactions after killing David are sexually charged). The murder was to impress their former teacher Rupert. They wanted to see if they could get away with murder, based in part on a thesis the young men had debated with Rupert on how a person with intellectual superiority could commit the perfect murder and get away with it. Only Brandon and Phillip have twisted Rupert's hypothetical idea into a terrifying reality.
Rupert's hypothetical argument was that the privileged can murder and get away with it because they are superior. The victims are the inferior. Rupert begins to unravel the mystery of David's absence from the party. When he confronts Brandon and Phillip and hears their rationale for the murder, Rupert realizes he's an unwitting third accomplice. It was Rupert's musings about superiority and inferiority that sparked Brandon and Phillip to kill. The two men warped Rupert's theory, choosing to play God. In a way, Rupert is as guilty as Brandon and Phillip. Only Rupert has a moral compass. He knows what's right and wrong.
If you are a fan of James Stewart, you remember he mostly appeared in comedies in the 30s and early 40s like DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939) and George Cukor's THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940). But when Stewart returned from World War II, he began to seek more serious roles. Even his first film after the war Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), Stewart mixes dramatic intensity with comedy as George Bailey. In ROPE, Stewart plays his first of four conflicted characters in Hitchcock films, his best troubled performance in his last with Hitchcock VERTIGO (1958). Stewart would play psychologically challenged roles in several Westerns for director Anthony Mann as well.
Stewart does a good job early in ROPE playing curious but not too suspicious. We the audience root for Rupert since we know who the murderers already are. We need Rupert to solve it. But Rupert's uncovering the murder reveals he may have inadvertently instigated it. Early in the party, Rupert jokes that murder should be an art. "And, as such, the privilege of committing it should be reserved for those few who are really superior individuals." He's had this lively conversation with Brandon and Phillip before. In the end, he realizes they put his hypothesis to the test. Brandon and Phillip may die in a gas chamber but Rupert will carry his role in a young man's death for the rest of his life.
The young handsome killers are played by John Dall and Farley Granger. Dall as the charismatic Brandon is the flashier role, the Alpha of the two men, a thrill seeker. He orchestrates the murder and party with equal aplomb. He has taken Rupert's hypothetical theory about "superiority" to a grisly level. He wants to prove he can get away with murder. "Murder can be an art, too. The power to kill can be just as satisfying as the power to create," Brandon boasts to Phillip. I'd never seen Dall in a film before. He nearly steals ROPE with his icy performance. Unfortunately, after a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for THE CORN IS GREEN (1945), Dall's first film, his career never kicked off after ROPE even though he appeared in the Film Noir cult classic GUN CRAZY (1950) and in Stanley Kubrick's SPARTACUS (1960).
Farley Granger who plays Phillip, the weaker, more nervous of the pair would have a much more successful career after ROPE although mostly in television. Granger would play the wronged hero Guy Haines in Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951). Granger's Phillip is the conscience of the two killers yet he's the one who strangled their friend David. Phillip's a nervous wreck as the guests arrive and begin to wonder where's David. Phillip calms himself by playing the piano. When Brandon recalls a story about Phillip strangling chickens on a farm, Phillip shouts, "I never strangled a chicken in my life!" It's almost a confession from Phillip, a plea to find the body and rid him of his guilt.
Sir Cedric Hardwicke as David's father is the only well known supporting cast member. Hardwicke also appeared in Hitchcock's SUSPICION (1941) and played Ludwig Frankenstein in THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942). Hardwicke was knighted in 1934 (hence the Sir) and had a successful stage and film career. Joan Chandler as Janet and Douglas Dick as ex-boyfriend Kenneth are fresh faces. Kenneth keeps joking how he's not very smart. He's lucky he didn't end up with the rope around his neck. Constance Collier as Mrs. Atwater, David's aunt, provides the comic relief. She provides some in-jokes when trying to remember the title of a film starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman (it's Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS) or proclaiming her admiration for Cary Grant as she stands next to James Stewart (Grant's co-star in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY). Collier began acting in the silent era but her last film would be two years later with the 1950 Film Noir WHIRLPOOL directed by Otto Preminger. She would retire from film after that.
ROPE is Hitchcock at his most macabre. The murder weapon, a piece of rope, is almost a character of its own. First, we see it wrapped around David's throat. After he's disposed of in the trunk, Phillip finds it hanging from the side. Brandon twirls it as he hides it in the kitchen. But then, Brandon uses the murder weapon to tie some rare books together for Mr. Kentley, David's father. Finally, Rupert brings the rope back in view (having removed it offscreen from Mr. Kentley's books) when he accuses the two men of their crime. Whether it be a knife, a neck tie, scissors, or rope, Hitchcock often made the murder weapon a supporting character. The dialogue by Cronyn and Laurents is very ghoulish. Rupert goes on a hypothetical rant about how murdering people will free up a table at a good restaurant or better seats at the theater. Later, Mrs. Atwater (an amateur palm reader) tells Phillip that his hands will bring him great fame. Phillip yearns to be a pianist but it's his hands that killed David. It's funny, dark stuff from the Master of Suspense.
Besides Hitchcock taking on yet another technical challenge, the real heroes of ROPE are the Operators of the Camera Movement (four in all) as well as the production design team who had to move walls silently as the camera moved during the continuous long takes. ROPE is supposed to take place in real time (80 minutes in all). Except for a few straight cuts at dramatic junctures of the film, most of the cuts happen as the camera is blocked momentarily by a character's back. It's noticeable but the technique doesn't distract the audience from the plot.
The real life murderers Leopold and Loeb would go to court in the Trial of the Century. They were represented by the legendary attorney Clarence Darrow but even he couldn't save them. Leopold and Loeb would be convicted of the kidnapping and murder of 14 year old Bobby Franks and sentenced to life in prison. The killers and murder have spawned several plays and movies besides ROPE including Richard Fleischer's COMPULSION (1959) starring Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, and Bradford Dillman.
ROPE would not be the first film that Hitchcock made based on real life events and people. THE WRONG MAN (1956) starring Henry Fonda is based on the real life story of an innocent man mistaken as an armed robber. And Hitchcock's PSYCHO based on the novel by Robert Bloch, some of the events are taken from the real life serial killer Ed Gein. As interesting an exercise and engaging a film as ROPE is, it would be a failure for Hitchcock at the box office. But like many films that failed initially with the public, ROPE'S reputation has grown over the years. It's not at the pantheon of great Hitchcock films but the second tier of entertaining near misses for the Master of Suspense.
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