Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writers: Hume Cronyn; Arthur Laurents

From a play: Rope's End by Patrick Hamilton

Keywords: True Crime, Roman à Clef, New York

Two chums, insinuated to be homosexual, strangle a friend as a lark, audaciously inviting the victim's friends to a dinner party whose centerpiece is a trunk containing the cadaver. Jimmy Stewart plays their former headmaster, Rupert Cadell; something at the party feels very wrong to him. The infamous Leopold & Loeb murder case, with the names changed. Hitchcock's first color film. The same case was made into Richard Fleischer's Compulsion (1959).

Name	Occupation	Birth	Death	Known for
Constance Collier	Actor	22-Jan-1878	25-Apr-1955	Stage Door
John Dall	Actor	26-May-1918	15-Jan-1971	Rope
Douglas Dick	Actor	20-Nov-1920	19-Dec-2015	Carl Herrick on Waterfront
Farley Granger	Actor	1-Jul-1925	27-Mar-2011	Strangers on a Train
Cedric Hardwicke	Actor	19-Feb-1893	6-Aug-1964	Suspicion
Jimmy Stewart	Actor	20-May-1908	2-Jul-1997	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

CAST

Dick Hogan	...   David Kentley
His Friends
John Dall	...   Brandon
Farley Granger	...   Phillip
Their Housekeeper
Edith Evanson	...   Mrs. Wilson
David's Rival
Douglas Dick	...   Kenneth
David's Girl
Joan Chandler	...   Janet
His Father
Cedric Hardwicke	...   Mr. Kentley
His Aunt
Constance Collier	...   Mrs. Atwater
and
Jimmy Stewart	...   Rupert Cadell

REVIEWS

Review by anonymous (posted on 5-Feb-2007)

Rope is a much under-rated and under-recognized Hitchcock thriller. It is done in six or seven seamless film segments so the effect is similar to a nonstop play. During this period of movie making, this approach simply wasn't done. Everything about it is interesting; from the camera work, to the acting, to the story, and of course to the direction. The film focuses on a financially elite, implied male "couple" (Granger, Dahl) living together in an implied New York City. Both being snooty and arrogant, they proceed to plan the murder of and then strangle (with a piece of rope) a college buddy in their apartment, and then proceed in giving a cocktail party to which the parents and girlfriend of the deceased young man are invited. As well, they invite an older, eccentric college professor (Stewart) of theirs, who had inspired their behavior. The professor had taught them that it would be a noble deed to commit a murder of someone who was relatively useless to society, and only the "superior" have the right to make such determinations and actions. They all nibble on the buffet, with a few interesting additional characters (Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Joan Chandler), which is literally served on the very chest that contains the deceased. Stewart now becomes a sleuth, with an important revision of his philosophies to come. The rest of the story must be seen to be appreciated. It unfolds in about 80 minutes, and watch for the seamless film transitions, usually on the back of a dark jackets. A superb thriller! A great movie! Watch it!

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