One of Hitchcock's most
innovative masterpieces.
A tight and gripping performance
thriller.
Rope is one of the most celebrated films in the highly celebrated filmography of Alfred Hitchcock. It is considered a pioneer in the use of the 'long take' and has one of the most lauded screenplays of all of Hitchcock's films, which were once again known for the exceptional quality of their screenplays. So do I feel this praise is deserved? In short, very much so.
The most talked about element of this film is it's visual style. Rope is shot in seemingly a single long take, and would have actually been done in one take if not for technical limitations. This helped to pioneer the 'long take' as a respected method of shooting a film, and it has remained a popular shooting style ever since. As for it's use in this film, it mostly works very well. It showcases the actor's talents well and helps the films excellent sense of tension to grow naturally from the performances and the script, without the aid of editing to artificially enhance the drama. This makes the film almost the definition of a performance piece, wherein the actor's performances and the quality of their dialogue surpasses any other individual element in it's importance. Admittedly, there are some obvious and fairly hilarious moments where the camera zooms into the back of the actors to hide certain hard to mask cuts (including one instance which results in a significant continuity error, as the entire geometry of the scene warps between hidden cuts).
Since this a film heavily centered around it's performances, I feel I should now cover my thoughts on them. James Stewart steals the show with a performance which totally plays against expectations. As a long time Stewart fan, seeing him play a cold and calculated intellectual was a jarring change of pace, and made for a doubly rewarding experience due to his ability to pull it off so well. His stern expression and perfectly controlled posture enables him to totally engross himself into the role, temporarily throwing off his usually friendly persona. Aside from Stewart, John Dall delivers an astonishingly charismatic and natural performance as Brandon. The character belongs to stand as one of the all time great movie psychopaths and I am sure Bret Easton Ellis took much inspiration from this character whilst writing American Psycho. Dick Hogan is also very good and sells his character's creeping paranoia and debilitating fear. Overall I think I can safely say that this may be the best group of performances in any Hitchcock film, and they work stunningly alongside the great supporting cast to deliver this tight character drama.
Overall, Rope is a classic and remains one of the most unique and possibly innovative film's the man ever made. It's acting is stellar and it helped to pioneer a very popular and influential method of cinematography. If it were not for this film, we may not have been given Boogie Nights, Enter the Void or Birdman and if that doesn't speak for the influence and significance of this film I don't know what could.
By Jack D. Phillips
A Zoom Film Review
Since this a film heavily centered around it's performances, I feel I should now cover my thoughts on them. James Stewart steals the show with a performance which totally plays against expectations. As a long time Stewart fan, seeing him play a cold and calculated intellectual was a jarring change of pace, and made for a doubly rewarding experience due to his ability to pull it off so well. His stern expression and perfectly controlled posture enables him to totally engross himself into the role, temporarily throwing off his usually friendly persona. Aside from Stewart, John Dall delivers an astonishingly charismatic and natural performance as Brandon. The character belongs to stand as one of the all time great movie psychopaths and I am sure Bret Easton Ellis took much inspiration from this character whilst writing American Psycho. Dick Hogan is also very good and sells his character's creeping paranoia and debilitating fear. Overall I think I can safely say that this may be the best group of performances in any Hitchcock film, and they work stunningly alongside the great supporting cast to deliver this tight character drama.
Overall, Rope is a classic and remains one of the most unique and possibly innovative film's the man ever made. It's acting is stellar and it helped to pioneer a very popular and influential method of cinematography. If it were not for this film, we may not have been given Boogie Nights, Enter the Void or Birdman and if that doesn't speak for the influence and significance of this film I don't know what could.
By Jack D. Phillips
A Zoom Film Review
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