Rope Overview:

Rope (1948) was a Crime - Mystery Film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein.

SYNOPSIS

This is one of the most famous technical achievements in movie history, a Hitchcock mystery that seems to unfold in a single, continuous shot (though there are two brief reverse-angle shots). The story of a thrill killing (based on the 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder) takes place as two pseudo-intellectuals (Granger and Dall) murder a friend and then host a dinner party. The guests include the victim's father (Hardwicke), his fiancee (Chandler), and Stewart, a professor whose lectures on Nietzsche inspired their deed. Dall toys with the guests, daring them to uncover the secret of the body that he's hidden in the chest from which they serve dinner. To his chagrin, Stewart begins to understand Dall's taunts. The technical challenge appealed to Hitchcock's formidable production-planning skills. The set consisted of wild walls that could move out of the camera's path, and the set-dressing had to move silently as well. As night falls, the light had to change both on the set and on the carefully rendered Manhattan skyline that serves as a backdrop. Hitchcock organized a massive army of technicians and crew, and the resulting film (which Hitchcock referred to as a "stunt") consists of eight apparently seamless 10-minute takes.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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BlogHub Articles:

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger

By Stephen Reginald on Jul 11, 2024 From Classic Movie Man

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger Rope (1948) is an American crime thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. Other members of the cast include Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Dougla... Read full article


Book Review: Perpetual Movement – Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rope’

By Devon Powell on Aug 7, 2021 From Hitchcock Master

Publisher: State University of New York Press Release Date: July 2021 ?I wondered while planning this book if I should divide Rope into hundreds of brief fragments for examination. I quickly realized, however, that Hitchcock?s film? has a textual form that suggests a convenient way in which to separ... Read full article


Noir Nook: Ripped from the Headlines ? Rope (1948)

By Karen Burroughs Hannsberry on Jul 10, 2019 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Noir Nook: Ripped from the Headlines ? Rope (1948) Rope is a 1948 feature directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. It may not be necessarily categorized as film noir, but it is undeniably imbued with a feeling of trepidation and inevitable doom that ... Read full article


5 things I love about Rope (1948)

By Carol Martinheira on Mar 31, 2018 From The Old Hollywood Garden

5 things I love about Rope (1948) On March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 By CarolIn Uncategorized I adore Rope. I know that feels like a rather insipid statement, but it?s Hitchcock, so there?s not a whole lot left to say. I blame film students. So instead I?ll just randomly ... Read full article


Murder by Rope (1936)

By John Grant on Mar 3, 2018 From Noirish

UK / 63 minutes / bw / Ambassador Film Productions, British & Dominions Film Corporation Dir: George Pearson Scr: Ralph Neale Story: Ralph Neale Cine: Ernest Palmer Cast: D.A. Clarke-Smith, Sunday Wilshin, Wilfred Hyde-White (i.e., Wilfrid Hyde-White), Dorothy Hamilton, Constance Godridge, Guy B... Read full article


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Quotes from

Rupert Cadell: Did you think you were God, Brandon?


Brandon: [David screams, to Phillip] Open it.
[they put David in the trunk and close it]


Rupert Cadell: After all, murder is - or should be - an art. Not one of the 'seven lively', perhaps, but an art nevertheless. And, as such, the privilege of committing it should be reserved for those few who are really superior individuals.
Brandon Shaw: And the victims: inferior beings whose lives are unimportant anyway.
Rupert Cadell: Obviously. Now, mind you, I don't hold with the extremists who feel that there should be open season for murder all year round. No, personally, I would prefer to have..."Cut a Throat Week"... or, uh, "Strangulation Day"...


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Facts about

Filmed January 12-February 21 1948. There are 10 shots within the film overall, running 9:34, 7:51, 7:18, 7:09, 9:59, 8:35, 7:50, 10:06, 4:37 and 5:40 minutes:seconds each.
The star signs that Mrs Atwater states for the movie actors she discusses are in each case correct: James Mason really was a Taurus, Cary Grant a Capricorn, and Ingrid Bergman a Virgo, just as she says.
Alfred Hitchcock only managed to shoot roughly one segment per day. The last four or five segments had to be completely re-shot because Hitchcock wasn't happy with the color of the sunset.
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Also directed by Alfred Hitchcock




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Also released in 1948




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