Rope (1948)

★ 7.9 1h 21m 2,973 votes IMDb

Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.

Rope

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Cast

James Stewart
James Stewart as Rupert Cadell Died 1997 · Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered...
John Dall
John Dall as Brandon Shaw Died 1971 · New York City, New York, USA John Dall (May 26, 1920 – January 15, 1971) was an American actor. Primarily a stage actor, he is best remembered today for two film roles; the cool-minded intellectual killer in Alfred Hitchcock's f...
Farley Granger
Farley Granger as Phillip Morgan Died 2011 · San Jose, California, USA Farley Earle Granger Jr. (July 1, 1925 – March 27, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his two collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock: Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951..
Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke as Mr. Henry Kentley Died 1964 · Lye, Worcestershire, England, UK Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years. Hardwicke's theatre work included notable performances...
Constance Collier
Constance Collier as Mrs. Anita Atwater Died 1955 · Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She made her stage debut at the age of three, when she played F...
Douglas Dick
Douglas Dick as Kenneth Lawrence Died 2015 · Charleston, West Virginia, USA Douglas Dick (November 20, 1920 - December 19, 2015) was a retired American actor and occasional screenwriter. His most famous role came in the 1948 film Rope. In 1971, Dick left the entertainment ind...

Audience Reviews

tmdb47633491 9/10 Apr 07, 2018
Can't believe I'm only seeing this now. It's great. Basically a play. There couldn't have been more than 15 shots. Ending had me in tears. Shouts out
barrymost 7/10 Aug 25, 2020
Rope was the first Alfred Hitchcock/James Stewart collaboration. They would go on to do "Rear Window", "The Man Who Knew Too Much", and finally, "Vertigo". This being the first, and also a kind of experimental film on Hitchcock's part, it is the weakest of the four. Shot as a play, mainly in one room, and with only a handful of cast members, the concept of how it was done is intriguing even today. Done in roughly a dozen takes, the only times that the camera ever cuts are when it closes in on someone's back and then angles around to the other side. That's the tell-tale sign of the only cuts in the entire film.

John Dall's acting is commendable, in the part of the more ruthless killer, Brandon Shaw. He's a very cool character, and feels no guilt over the brutal murder he's just committed. James Stewart, great as he is, seemed a bit out of his element, as intellectual publisher Rupert Cadell. Stewart is always immensely enjoyable, and I have massive respect for his talent. However, he does appear somewhat uncomfortable with his part throughout the film.

Another aspect that detracts from the tension is the opening scene of the murder taking place. After David Kentley is dead, he is placed in the wooden chest and the audience knows he's dead from scene 1. Had Hitchcock omitted the scene of the murder, the audience would no doubt be wondering "Is there really a body in that chest? Did they really do it? What's going on here?" And the red herrings in the film would only add to the suspense. As it is, we know from the start who's dead and who-done-it. That said, it's a decent movie, and certainly still worth the watch.
CinemaSerf 7/10 Jul 09, 2022
Now I may be completely off beam here, but there is something ever so slightly homo-erotic about the relationship between John Dall ("Brandon") and Farley Granger ("Philip") in this rather clunky murder tale that is less of a mystery and more of a bragging exercise. The two, having murdered their college friend "David" invite some folks round for a dinner party that shows the pair - especially Dall - as obnoxious men with a profoundly mis-placed superiority complex. As their odiousness is enhanced by over-confidence and drink, their former school master "Rupert" (Jimmy Stewart) starts to suspect that there is more to the absence of "David" (the more suspicious because his father, Sir Cedric Hardwicke has come to the supper) than meets the eye; and soon he begins to put two and two together. I found the long takes helped build the tension quite effectively, but the dialogue was relentless and the fine line between characterisation and irritation - for me, anyway, was well and truly crossed. If Dall's purpose was to alienate the room and the audience, then he succeeded spectacularly - and it says in the trailer - it's certainly not a film you will ever forget.
James 7/10 Oct 20, 2023
Somebody should have stopped Hitchcock from all this innovating business…
James 7/10 Oct 20, 2023
**It ends with a shot**
Like no film ever did that.

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