A
1948 thriller about
murder as an
intellectual exercise, directed and produced by
Alfred Hitchcock.
Rope is based upon a
1929 one-act British stage play (
Rope's End by
Patrick Hamilton), which is in turn a
sensationalization of the
1923-
1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case.
Influenced by a
flippant academic theory about murder, propounded by their favorite
prep school teacher Rupert (
James Stewart), Brandon (
John Dall) and Philip (
Farley Granger) consider themselves 'superior' human beings, which means they can commit murder and not get caught. To prove their superiority, they murder David Kentley, one of their school chums, just for the hell of it. Not considering this enough of a challenge, they then invite everyone over to a dinner party to celebrate: The victim's father (Sir
Cedric Hardwicke), Professor Rupert, the victim's former girlfriend. Although the body is not
in the closet, several other things are.
This was Alfred Hitchcock's first film in the role of producer. He used an experimental filming technique to make
Rope, making it appear that the entire movie was shot in one sequence. This was probably to give it the same feel as a one-act stage play. However, Hitchcock never used the technique again.
Although it's considered Hitchcock's 'weakest' film,
Rope is incredibly good.