Google Ads
Login | Sign Up

Rope (1948)

Director(s) Alfred Hitchcock
Producer(s) Alfred Hitchcock (uncredited), Sidney Bernstein (uncredited)
Top Genres Crime, Drama, Film Noir, Mystery, Romance, Thriller/Suspense
More Films Directed by Alfred Hitchcock More Films Produced by Sidney Bernstein More Films from 1948 More Films from the 1940s Top Classic Movies of the 1940s

Rope Overview:

Rope (1948) was a Crime - Mystery Film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein.

SYNOPSIS

This is one of the most famous technical achievements in movie history, a Hitchcock mystery that seems to unfold in a single, continuous shot (though there are two brief reverse-angle shots). The story of a thrill killing (based on the 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder) takes place as two pseudo-intellectuals (Granger and Dall) murder a friend and then host a dinner party. The guests include the victim's father (Hardwicke), his fiancee (Chandler), and Stewart, a professor whose lectures on Nietzsche inspired their deed. Dall toys with the guests, daring them to uncover the secret of the body that he's hidden in the chest from which they serve dinner. To his chagrin, Stewart begins to understand Dall's taunts. The technical challenge appealed to Hitchcock's formidable production-planning skills. The set consisted of wild walls that could move out of the camera's path, and the set-dressing had to move silently as well. As night falls, the light had to change both on the set and on the carefully rendered Manhattan skyline that serves as a backdrop. Hitchcock organized a massive army of technicians and crew, and the resulting film (which Hitchcock referred to as a "stunt") consists of eight apparently seamless 10-minute takes.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Rope BlogHub Articles:

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger

By Stephen Reginald on Jul 11, 2024 From Classic Movie Man

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger Rope (1948) is an American crime thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. Other members of the cast include Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Dougla... Read full article

Book Review: Perpetual Movement – Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rope’

By Devon Powell on Aug 7, 2021 From Hitchcock Master

Publisher: State University of New York Press Release Date: July 2021 “I wondered while planning this book if I should divide Rope into hundreds of brief fragments for examination. I quickly realized, however, that Hitchcock’s film… has a textual form that suggests a convenient way in which to... Read full article

Noir Nook: Ripped from the Headlines – Rope (1948)

By Karen Burroughs Hannsberry on Jul 10, 2019 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Noir Nook: Ripped from the Headlines – Rope (1948) Rope is a 1948 feature directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. It may not be necessarily categorized as film noir, but it is undeniably imbued with a feeling of trepidation and inevitable doom tha... Read full article

5 things I love about Rope (1948)

By Carol Martinheira on Mar 31, 2018 From The Old Hollywood Garden

5 things I love about Rope (1948) On March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 By CarolIn Uncategorized I adore Rope. I know that feels like a rather insipid statement, but it’s Hitchcock, so there’s not a whole lot left to say. I blame film students. So instead I’ll just ran... Read full article

Murder by Rope (1936)

By John Grant on Mar 3, 2018 From Noirish

UK / 63 minutes / bw / Ambassador Film Productions, British & Dominions Film Corporation Dir: George Pearson Scr: Ralph Neale Story: Ralph Neale Cine: Ernest Palmer Cast: D.A. Clarke-Smith, Sunday Wilshin, Wilfred Hyde-White (i.e., Wilfrid Hyde-White), Dorothy Hamilton, Constance Godridge, Guy B... Read full article

See More Rope Articles

Rope Quotes:

Brandon Shaw: Mrs. Wilson, champagne!
Kenneth: Oh, it isn't someone's birthday is it?
Brandon Shaw: Don't look so worried, Kenneth. It's, uh, really almost the opposite.
Phillip Morgan: Rupert only publishes books HE likes... usually philosophy.
Janet Walker: Oh. Small print, big words, no sales.
Brandon Shaw: Rupert's extremely radical. Do you know that he selects his books on the assumption that people not only can read but actually can think?
Brandon Shaw: Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them.
Brandon: Nobody commits a murder just for the experiment of committing it. Nobody except us.
Brandon Shaw: Of course, he was a Harvard graduate. That might be grounds for justifiable homicide.
See More Quotes from Rope
Rope Facts
David's name is mentioned several times throughout the film by most of the characters. They say his name a total of 73 times. The only two characters that never mention his name is Mrs Wilson, and, quite surprisingly, Phillip.
Alfred Hitchcock:  His profile appears on a neon sign visible through the apartment window approximately 55 minutes into the movie. The neon sign advertises "Reduco," the same fictional weight-loss product that Hitchcock advertised in his famous newspaper ad cameo in Lifeboat. Some sources indicate that he also appears walking down the street during the opening credits.
The theatrical trailer features footage shot specifically for the advertisement that takes place before the beginning of the movie. David (the victim) sits on a park bench and speaks with Janet before leaving to meet Brandon and Phillip. James Stewart narrates the sequence, noting that's the last time Janet and the audience would see him alive.
Contrary to popular belief and Hitchcock's own claims in later interviews, there are several conventional edits during the movie: when Janet arrives at the party; when Phillip shouts "That's a lie!"; when Mrs. Wilson enters the room to announce the telephone call from David's mother; and when Brandon reaches into his pocket for his gun while Rupert narrates his theory on how the murder was committed. Some add the cut from the shot of the apartment's exterior (with the opening titles superimposed over it) to its interior at the beginning, but that one does not genuinely contradict the claim that the film is made to simulate a single continuous take any more than the cut to the end credits does.
The film was unavailable for decades because its rights (together with four other pictures of the same period) were bought back by Alfred Hitchcock and left as part of his legacy to his daughter Patricia Hitchcock. They've been known for long as the infamous "5 lost Hitchcocks" amongst film buffs, and were re-released in theatres around 1984 after a 30-year absence. The others are The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, and Vertigo.
See More Facts about Rope >>