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Nabaza.net-The MarketPlace - Rope (1948)
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $4.95
Your Save: $ 10.03 ( 67% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Warner Bros. Pictures
Starring: Joan Chandler, Constance Collier, John Dall, Douglas Dick, Edith Evanson
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786300183582
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 6300183580
Label: Warner Bros. Pictures
Manufacturer: Warner Bros. Pictures
Publisher: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: 1992-03-01
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1948-08-28
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Editorial Reviews:
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An experimental film masquerading as a standard Hollywood thriller. The plot of Rope is simple and based on a successful stage play: two young men (John Dall and Farley Granger) commit murder, more or less as an intellectual exercise. They hide the body in their large apartment, then throw a dinner party. Will the body be discovered? Director Alfred Hitchcock, fascinated by the possibilities of the long-take style, decided to shoot this story as though it were happening in one long, uninterrupted shot. Since the camera can only hold one 10-minute reel at a time, Hitchcock had to be creative when it came time to change reels, disguising the switches as the camera passed behind someone's back or moved behind a lamp. In later years Hitchcock wrote off the approach as misguided, and Rope may not be one of Hitchcock's top movies, but it's still a nail-biter. They don't call him the Master of Suspense for nothing. James Stewart, as a suspicious professor, marks his first starring role for Hitchcock, a collaboration that would lead to the masterpieces Rear Window and Vertigo. --Robert Horton
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great print of a great movie
Comment: This is one of Hitchock's best films - they are all great, but this one and "Rear Window" are my favourites. The technical transfer of this film to DVD is solid; the storyline is incredible, given the time in which this film was produced.
There's quite a bit more "story" to the story, in the relationship between the two main characters - a relationship that possibly doomed this film to very specific audiences in 1948 when it was released. Don't miss this one - if it's not in your Hitchcock collection, it should be. Definitely ranks as one of the top 5.
There are also a number of extras on the disc that are very well-done and entertaining, especially to see how the film was made using an incredibly limited number of takes (a first for film), using something only Hitch would have pioneered to camoflauge the end of each reel and provide a seamless transition to the next.
Enjoy!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A different kind of Hitchcock
Comment: 3.5 stars. A film inspired by the true crime case of Leopold and Loeb, Hitchcock tried to do a few different things with this film and I'm not too sure it worked. The decision to shoot in eight ten minute long sequences might have sounded appealing, but to me it came off a bit too gimmicky. The film is also a little slow in getting started and doesn't really pick up until Jimmie Stewart comes onto the scene. Jimmie, as always, is perfect and it is he who steals the show. Of course, I don't know how either of the boys thought this was the perfect crime, but then again, what do I know. Still the third act turns out to be quite suspenseful and is what made this film enjoyable. Recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The More You Watch, the Tighter the Suspense Grows
Comment: Brandon (John Dall) and Phillip (Farley Granger) feel they are superior to their friends in every way. As such, they think they can plan the perfect murder and get away with it. Their victim is David Kentley (Dick Hogan). And to prove just how superior they are, they invite his family and friends over for a dinner party with his still cooling body in a trunk in the room.
Among the guests is their old school advisor Rupert (James Stewart), the only person Brandon thinks can figure out what they've done. Will they get away with murder? If not, which will give them away first, Brandon's arrogance or Phillip's guilty conscience?
This is a very intriguing psychological thriller. Based on a play, the movie was filmed on one rather limited set and was filmed in as few takes as possible. While those transitions (to reload film) are obvious, the constant rolling of the camera adds to the suspense. There are some strange camera angles at times, but they build the suspense as well. The limited set is an added bonus as it focuses our attention to build the suspense.
The acting is absolutely wonderful. While it does suffer at times from the overacting prevalent at the time (at least by today's standards), it captures the characters and their emotions perfectly. This is especially true of John Dall and Fraley Granger who bring such nuance to their characters we always know their thoughts. Their two characters are rich enough for some pretty in depth character studies.
To be honest, I found how much I enjoyed this movie a little disturbing. It will entertain you and make you think for some time afterward. So if you have missed this gem, watch it today.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An overlooked masterpiece
Comment: I was a kid when I first saw ROPE, some 15 years ago. I vividly remembered that scene of the maid cleaning up after the party - the camera nailed down to one spot; just the one view of the maid clearing-off the table/chest, unaware of its ghastly contents. You watch her up close as she picks up plates from atop the chest and then she walks into the distance to the kitchen and then she comes back to us to take more things off the chest and then goes away again, back and forth, again and again, cleaning, working her way closer and closer --- all the while you know what's inside that chest and that, once she clears it off, if she were to look inside...
...and you wait and watch in euphoric agony.
And it was then, all those years ago, watching Rope, watching that scene, I first understood what it was a director did (or at least one of the most important things he does). I understood the director's role in how the story is told - from what the camera reveals and how the images are presented to you. There's an intelligent design behind the unfolding of the story that is a character in itself. It has a tangible personality. And that character is rarely as vivid and forceful than when it's Hitchcock.
I saw Rope for the second time just a few days ago and it is even better than I remembered. But, for me, it's a stretch to believe Jimmy Stewart could or would want to expound upon Nietzschean philosophy. He's exudes too much homespun wholesomeness to be talking about the Ãœbermensch. Gregory Peck might have been a better choice for that role. He can seem dark and brooding while conveying enough inner goodness to keep the audience's affection, if that was the goal in choosing Stewart. James Mason would be even better and that would have made it a very dark picture, but perhaps too dark for the time.
Still, ROPE is Hitchcock using all his powers of suspense and his genius for direction. Notorious, Psycho, North By Northwest and The Birds may get a lot of attention, but this is a film no Hitchcock fan should miss and it is too often overlooked. Also be sure to watch the extras, there is a very illuminating little documentary piece you should see.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Expiremental Achievement in Directing and Acting
Comment: Rope is in a different Hitchcock clas altogether. Coming off the success of two features with Ingrid Bergman (Spellbound - Criterion Collection, Notorious - Criterion Collection) Hitchcock decided to try an expirement in his next film.
It plays like a well adapted play on screen. Broken into 8 sections by seamingly unnoticed takes, Rope is an achievement in every sense of the word. Noy only in directorial prowess but in story effectiveness and acting. Constant acting for nearly 10 minutes, although not imposiblem but extremely difficult, is a daunting task for even the most respected of actors. The constant positioning, the perfection of lines. It was a difficult task for everyone in front of and behind the camera.
With that being said, there's an excellent plot as well. Two students murder a man, stuff him in a trunk, then host a dinner party, giving clues to their former teacher to solve the murder all the while. Quite engaging and envigoring. Another reason Hitchcock is known as "The Master of Suspense".
Recommended to all those that love fabulous direction, a gallant thriller, and an engaging story.
Must See.
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