Rope

Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" is a technical marvel, and a daring experiment exploring dark angles of human nature. Students Brandon Shaw and Philip Morgan commit a premeditated murder as an intellectual exercise, convinced their own superiority exempts them from common morality. They then host a dinner party, concealing the body in a chest in the same room where their guests are gathered.

Hitchcock creates mounting tension throughout the film. The audience is aware of the crime that has been committed right in the opening scene. The suspense builds as we watch the two men struggle to maintain their composure and avoid suspicion. 

Hitchcock's decision to shoot the film in one place, in long, uninterrupted takes, creates immediacy and claustrophobia. The audience becomes a virtual guest at the dinner party hosted by the murderers. There is no musical score.

The film's psychological depth is explored through the characters of Brandon and Phillip and their motivations. Brandon, the more intellectual of the two, is driven by a Nietzschean philosophy of the Übermensch, believing himself to be beyond the constraints of morality. Phillip, on the other hand, is more emotional, seeking validation through Brandon's approval.

The performances in the film are superb. John Dall and Farley Granger are convincing as the two murderers. James Stewart is excellent as Rupert Cadell, a guest at the party who comes to suspect that something is amiss. 

The choice of Stewart in this role, a teacher who planted the seeds of Brandon's unorthodox views, is an interesting one. Audiences were taken aback by the kindly and consummate hero speaking of the justification of homicide of the inferior by the superior. Indeed Stewart has an awkward feel about him in "Rope". James Mason is mentioned in conversation in the script. Mason is far and away the more obvious choice for the role of Rupert. That Mason's name is dropped in conversation feels very much like a Hitchcockian jab at critics after the quite deliberate choice of Stewart in a role that questions good and evil as mundane and proletarian concepts.

"Rope" probably isn't the best entry point for viewers new to Hitchcock. But it is a terrific film.

"I just want to decide who lives and who dies." - Crow T. Robot