.
"We've killed for the sake of danger. And for the sake of killing. We're alive. Truly and wonderfully alive."
Inspired by the Leopold and Loeb murder case, this thriller originally was on stage as Rope's End and director Alfred Hitchcock opted to film it as a play with continuous 10-minutes takes. Many consider this film one of the very best films centering on homosexuality, a brave topic for this era in film.
Prep school teacher and housemaster Rupert Cadell (Jimmy Stewart) taught Nietzsche's Superman and two of his students-- Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) and Brandon Shaw (John Dell)--took the lesson well. On a whim, they strangled their friend David Kentley (Dick Hogan) just to see what it felt like. They then hid his body in a chest in their NYC apartment. Brandon is sadisticly cavalier after the fact while Philip is wrenched with guilt.
There's the game of risk involved, too, as the men are hosting a party that evening and there's that body in the chest in the middle of the room. Guests include Kentley's father, Henry (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and aunt, Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier), his girlfriend, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler), his former best friend, Kenneth Lawrence (Douglas Dick), and Professor Cadell. Along with the busybody housekeeper Mrs. Wilson (Edith Evanson), they are oblivious to the evil in the room.
The bonus material included with this DVD gives wonderful insights into the production.
Hitchcock was notorious for always having some tiny role in each of his films. In Rope, he appears simply as a pedestrian walking with a woman on the street in the opening sequence. This was Hitchcock's first Technicolor production. The film's treatment was done by Hume Cronyn.
Run time: 1 hour, 21 minutes
Rated PG.
My personal rating: B+
Inspired by the Leopold and Loeb murder case, this thriller originally was on stage as Rope's End and director Alfred Hitchcock opted to film it as a play with continuous 10-minutes takes. Many consider this film one of the very best films centering on homosexuality, a brave topic for this era in film.
Prep school teacher and housemaster Rupert Cadell (Jimmy Stewart) taught Nietzsche's Superman and two of his students-- Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) and Brandon Shaw (John Dell)--took the lesson well. On a whim, they strangled their friend David Kentley (Dick Hogan) just to see what it felt like. They then hid his body in a chest in their NYC apartment. Brandon is sadisticly cavalier after the fact while Philip is wrenched with guilt.
There's the game of risk involved, too, as the men are hosting a party that evening and there's that body in the chest in the middle of the room. Guests include Kentley's father, Henry (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and aunt, Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier), his girlfriend, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler), his former best friend, Kenneth Lawrence (Douglas Dick), and Professor Cadell. Along with the busybody housekeeper Mrs. Wilson (Edith Evanson), they are oblivious to the evil in the room.
The bonus material included with this DVD gives wonderful insights into the production.
Hitchcock was notorious for always having some tiny role in each of his films. In Rope, he appears simply as a pedestrian walking with a woman on the street in the opening sequence. This was Hitchcock's first Technicolor production. The film's treatment was done by Hume Cronyn.
Run time: 1 hour, 21 minutes
Rated PG.
My personal rating: B+
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