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).

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BlogHub Articles:

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 separ... 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 that ... 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 randomly ... 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


Top 3 Reasons Why Rope is Creepier Than a Slasher Movie

By Claire Dunderman on Sep 24, 2013 From Pretty Clever Films

Rope – the underrated, spooky gem of Hitchcock’s murderous repertoire. Only this time, the killing is done with class. In the age of gore and slasher films, one tends to forget that horror can be frightening on a level that penetrates the psyche. Here’s the top 3 reasons why Rope i... Read full article


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Quotes from

Rupert Cadell: Well well well Kenneth Lawrence, how you've grown.
Kenneth: Hello ,uh, Mr...
Rupert Cadell: Come on, Ken. School's out, you can say it.
Kenneth: Rupert, you're the same as ever. It's awfully good to see you again.
Rupert Cadell: Why?


Brandon Shaw: Determined to get drunk, aren't you?
Phillip Morgan: I am drunk.
Brandon Shaw: And just as childish as you were before when you called me a liar.
Phillip Morgan: You had no business telling that story.
Brandon Shaw: Why did you lie anyway?
Phillip Morgan: I had to! Have you ever bothered for just one minute to understand how someone else might feel?
Brandon Shaw: I'm not sentimental if that's what you...
Phillip Morgan: No, that's not what I mean; but it doesn't matter. Nothing matters... except that Mr. Brandon liked the party. Mr. Brandon gave the party. Mr. Brandon had a delightful evening. Well, I had a rotten evening!
Brandon Shaw: Keep drinking, and you'll have a worse morning.
Phillip Morgan: At least if I have a hangover, it'll be all mine!


Brandon: We killed for the sake of danger and for the sake of killing.


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Facts about

'Alfred Hitchcock''s Rope (1948) is very different from Patrick Hamilton's play of the same name. Hitchcock made his own adaptation with Hume Cronyn and created new characters for their adaptation. In the play, there is no Janet Walker, no Mrs. Wilson, no Kenneth Lawrence, and no Mrs. Atwater. The play takes place in England. Brandon Shaw is Wyndham Brandon and Philip Morgan is Charles Granillo in the play. In the play, Rupert Cadell is only 29 years old and he is the current teacher of only Wyndham Brandon and Charles Granillo. In the film, Rupert looks like he is at least around the age of mid 40s. Rupert had been the teacher of Brandon Shaw, Philip Morgan, Kenneth Lawrence, and David Kentley. In the film, Rupert is currently a publisher.
The picture was filmed entirely in-studio (except for the opening credits). The clouds that you see out the window are made out of fiberglass. For the effect of a police siren coming towards the apartment building at the end, Alfred Hitchcock had an ambulance come at full speed, from several blocks away, straight to the Warner Brothers studio, siren blaring all the way. The sounds were picked up by a microphone suspended from the studio gate.
The apartment set showed up the following year, slightly re-furbished, in the Doris Day movie My Dream Is Yours.
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Also directed by Alfred Hitchcock




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Also produced by Alfred Hitchcock




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Also released in 1948




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