Film review: Rope (Alfred Hitchcock)

Film review: Rope (Alfred Hitchcock) by Coyle Loughran

The Alfred Hitchcock film “Rope” was an interesting movie to watch, even though the plot of the film was mainly created through speech and small actions. The two main characters on which the movie was focused were: Phil and Brandon. At the beginning of the movie, we were greeted with a view of a quiet area, the camera then panned upward to an apartment from which a scream could be heard. The victim of the scream was a person that Phil and Brandon both knew (David). Phil and his friend Brandon had murdered David with a simple piece of rope. The corpse was then chucked into a wooden box (a make-shift coffin). The pair then proceeded to cover it with items from the dining-room table, which was in the next room.

                                                         Fig 1

After covering the ‘coffin box’ with items for dinner, the guests started to arrive for the party. Phil and Brandon tried to keep themselves together but - from the audience-focused perspective – the audience knew that the two were putting on an act to hide the sadistic pleasure of killing someone that they believed were lower than themselves.

After a brief conversation more party guests arrived like Mrs. Wilson/ Rupert Cadell/ Mr. Kentley/ Janet and Mrs. Atwater (who had helped with the catering for the evening). Briefly looking at Ms. Atwater’s role in the film - even though there were close shots of her near to the coffin, giving a sense of her being the one to find the corpse – she was merely being a form of ‘comic relief’ in her characterization.

Rupert Cadell was personally one of the most interesting characters in the film. He had looked after Janet, Brandon and Phil during their time at school. During that time, Cadell had managed to influence Brandon into the belief that all humans are superior; and hence could do whatever they want. It is presumed that Cadell’s influence led to the death of David; and hence Brandon is perceived as expecting a positive response about the murder of David from Cadell. However, in contrast, Cadell showed complete detest for the pair; and as such grabbed the gun, which had previously been in the possession of Brandon, walked to the window and fired it into the air. The last scene then showed all three awaiting the expected arrival of the police.  

Since this film was mainly based around film angles, which drew attention to certain location and items, this helped to amplify the mood of a scene. For example, with the conversations between characters, this was shot with the use of the camera panning behind one of the characters. The camera then steered to the side of the pair or the group; to only then draw back to the main group with the coffin in main view. Therefore, the coffin is always in view as the camera angle turns into a wide shot.

Reference :

(Fig.1)Medium. (2019). “Based Upon A True Story”: Leopold & Loeb & Hitchcock’s ROPE (‘48). [online] Available at: https://medium.com/the-nu-romantics/based-upon-a-true-story-leopold-loeb-hitchcocks-rope-48-ef689bc1cc6b [Accessed 17 Jan. 2019].