Film Review: Rope

Staged on a few square meters, Rope (1948) is very much a condensed synthesis of Alfred Hitchcock’s area of predilection: irony, macabre, theatricality and subtext tie in together in this audacious homage to the theatre tradition. 

It is no surprise the 80 minute long production ranks amongst the many reasons why its director earned the title of ‘Master of Suspense’. With its playful script and numerous twists and turns, Rope is indeed full of it. But a lot of what makes the film gripping actually comes down to the various techniques employed by Hitchcock. 

Whereas the whodunit format’s sole purpose is to solve the riddle, Rope exposes us to the risky aftermath of a crime and how its perpetrators deal with the notion of taking a life. From the very start, we understand this inversed story structure will bestow the audience with conflicting feelings as the camera makes us direct accomplices of David’s murder. Suspense is thus provided by the pieces of information and relationship the filmmaker decides to share on screen and that we, invisible and silent guests, collect whilst zigzagging apprehensively around the set.

Figure 2.

Although we are unable, like actual partygoers, to focus on every aspect of the cocktail, there is a sense of omniscience transpiring from Hitchcock’s motivated camerawork. It becomes increasingly clear as the evening progresses that his usage of depth of field makes us the most informed person in the room. But in order to enhance the mounting tension, the director ensures to use this guilty knowledge against us in the most hair-pulling way (see figure 3). “For instance, when the dinner ends and maid Mrs. Wilson (Edith Evanson) cleans the leftovers off the trunk, the camera settles to follow her work. It totally ignores the conversation among the rest of the guests; […] Since we know what’s in the chest – and that she soon plans to open it – this perspective ramps up the drama.” (Jacobson, 2013)

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Hitchcock additionally resorts to lighting and sound effects to build an alarming feeling throughout the picture: simple, ‘naturalistic’ elements such as the nervous ticking of a metronome or the flickering projected colours of a neon sign at the climax of the movie become expressionist devices to electrify the atmosphere (see figure 4).
In the same way the protagonists longed to perform the perfect murder, Hitchcock indulges himself in the making of a seamless, single-take cinema. This daring move leads to a more immersive experience as we feel like the events of the film are taking place in real time. An impressive backdrop further recreates the illusion of elapsing time as daylight passes into a blood-tinted sunset. Jean-Pierre Coursodon also sees in Rope’s unity of time and space an effective way of setting up an impression of entrapment. The linear narration doesn’t indeed allow the free will and different perspectives a more classic découpage usually offers: “The spectator – this is another effect of the long-take technique – is as much a prisoner of it as they are: the movie, that strip of film which, for once, no editing scissors have cut, is the rope that ties us up, just as it unreels an invisible bond around the characters.” (Coursodon, 1984)

But to some extent, just as Brandon wishes for his cleverness to be recognised, Hitchcock too wants to be found out. Rope being, as a matter of fact, a not a completely uninterrupted picture, Pamela Hutchinson reads the non-fluid cuts left by the director as clues, this time not for Rupert Cadell, but for the audience: “Once you've spotted one, you'll want to know why it's there, and then, bam, you're thinking about Hitchcock, the director and not his cattle. Just like Brandon, Hitchcock wants to be appreciated.” (Hutchinson, 2012)

Bibliography.

Coursodon, J-P. (1984). Desire Roped In Notes on the Fetishism of the Long Take in Rope. At: http://www.rouge.com.au/4/rope.html (Accessed on 19/01/15)

Hutchinson, P. (2012). My favourite Hitchcock: Rope. At: http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/27/my-favourite-hitchcock-rope (Accessed on 19/01/15)

Jacobson, C. (2013). Rope [Blu-Ray] (1948) At: http://www.dvdmg.com/ropebr.shtml (Accessed on 20/01/15)

Illustration List.

Figure 1. Rope (1948)  [Poster] At: http://filmbalaya.com/2010/12/31/films-to-see-this-january/ (Accessed on 21/01/15)

Figure 2. Broken Glass Still. (1948) From: Rope. Directed by: Hitchcock, A. [Film still] United States: Transatlantic Picture. At: https://thehitchcockproject.wordpress.com/category/week-33-rope-1948/ (Accessed on 21/01/15)

Figure 3. Maid Still. From: Rope. Directed by: Hitchcock, A. [Film still] United States: Transatlantic Picture. (1948) At: http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/six-most-intense-dinner-party-movies-dbell.php (Accessed on 21/01/15)

Figure 4. Neon Gif. From: Rope. Directed by: Hitchcock, A. [Film still] United States: Transatlantic Picture. (1948) At: http://filmsinopsis.tumblr.com/post/66701093535/rope-1948-directed-by-alfred-hitchcock (Accessed on 21/01/15)