Rope
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Rope, a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and, while not one of his best, is certainly one of his most intresting. Based on the ( far better ) play by Patrick Hamilton, it features James Stewart and Farley Granger, the latter having murdered a fellow student ( can you guess the weapon? Can ya? ), just to see if he can. He then bundles the body into a trunk, drapes a dinner cloth over it, and invites the victim's famliy and friends around for a meal. The action of the piece suffers from having been transfered from 1920's London to a modern day Chicago, and a certain staginess that doesn't quite work for the screen, but is notable for the fact that the entire film appears to be one, long, continous take. Actually, it's a series of uninteruppted 10 minute takes, but at the moment that the reels change, the action is contrived that the screen is filled up with somebody's back, or something. It doesn't always work, but it's an interesting experiment anyway. Speaking of intresting Hitchcock experiments, check out the entry on Pyscho ( 1988 ), a shot for shot remake of the Anthony Perkins thriller, featuring Anne Heche, William H Macy, and - bizarrely - Vince Vaughn as Norman.
