Rope

 Rope 1948

• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Seen by this director: Torn Curtain, Marnie, The Birds, Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Trouble with Harry, Rear Window, Notorious, Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, The 39 steps, possibly others
• Based on the play by Patrick Hamilton
• Cast: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Edith Evanson, Douglas Dick, Joan Chandler, Cedric Hardwick, Constance Collier
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James Stewart – Shenandoah, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Greatest Show on Earth, Bell Book and Candle, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Harvey, Rear Window, maybe others
• John Dall – Spartacus
• Farley Granger – TV series
• Edith Evanson – TV series
• Cedric Hardwick – Five Weeks in a Balloon, Around the World in Eighty Days, Gaby, Richard III
• Why? It’s in the James Steward Box.
• Seen: 30 September 2021.      

       A man is strangled with a rope by two men in suits in a fancy NY flat. His murderers Brandon (Dall) and Phillip (Granger) consider him the perfect victim for the perfect murder, an immaculate murder just for the danger and thrill of it.

       With the body in a trunk the dinner party with the victim’s parents and fiancée (Chandler) can begin. Also invited is Rupert (Stewart) the two murderer’s mentor at college. Rupert is unusually observant and astute.

       It’s a clever cat-and-mouse salon drama with snappy dialog and increasing tension. Stewart is excellent, as always. An odd little gem. Hitchcock’s first colour film. 

4 * of 5