'Rope' is a 1948 thriller directed by non other than the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, but this is not one of Hitchcock's standard & original thriller films. The tale is actually a true story about two upper class Chicago law students, Nathan Leopold & Richard Loeb, who murdered a teenage boy, which was then adapted into a play crated by Patrick Hamilton. Hitchcock then adapted the play into his award winning 1948 masterpiece. The production was brought to life by such amazing actors such as James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger.
The trailer for the film Rope helps to engage the potential audience as it focuses on the school housemaster Rupert Cadell who informs those watching said trailer about a murder of which he uncovered during the duration of the movie. He states that such an outrageous occurrence took place and mentions the various lives the happening affected. This helps to emphasise the seriousness of the subject to the viewer & engages them with the happenings & plot of the film, making them want to go see it as a result.
The film stars characters Brandon Shaw & Phillip Morgan, who are just as snobbish as the real world murderers they are based off of. They considered themselves Nietzchean supermen whose superiority of intellect meant that they were above the rest of society, exempting them from the rules & regulations that otherwise 'regular' human beings have to abide by. Brandon seems to be the more influential of the two, being the main mastermind behind such a brutal murder. He states that "Good & evil, right ?& wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them". Throught this logic, he believes that he & Phillip are able to commit such a crime without being having to be held responsible, nor having to feel bad about the subject, sheerly because he feels that they are, in some way, superior to everyone else.
Though a thriller, "Rope" is not a thriller in the most traditional sense. For the film does not follow the established thriller conventions in the same way that most thrillers do. Thrillers are known for their fast pacing & frequent action, though "Rope" rarely shows us any action throughout the entirety of the film's duration. The film does open with the death of David Kently, though we only just catch the aftermath of the fight, only seeing the moment Kently is starved of life, missing the initial struggle that led to his death. The rest of the scene consists of conversation amongst various people, initially just Brand & Phillip, & then amongst some party guests as well. It is not until the very end of the production that we see another physical conflict. In this scene Cadell finds out that Brandon & Philliop have murdered Kently, & pulls a gun out from his pocket. A struggle for the gun then breaks out, ending in gunfire, though the shots purpose was only to alert to others, in order to ensure that the police would arrive to take Brandon & Phillip away. no one was shot, & the violent struggle only consisted for a few minutes, not being any where near enough to warrant this film as action packed. The lack of frequent action & large amount of talking means that the film does stray from the known thriller conventions.
Another common thriller convention is that of a resourceful hero/s who must thwart the plans of a more powerful or better equipped villlain/s. This is yet again not followed by "Rope", as our "heores" are in fact the villains themselves. The story follows Brandon & Phillip, making them the film's protagonists, which would usually place them in the role of the heroes, yet, they have committed a pointless & senseless murder, so how can they be our heroes? Caddell comes between our protagonists & their goal of getting away with the murder, instantly making him our antagonist, yet, in this case, Cadell is not at all a villain. He is merely trying to uncover the mystery of Kently's disappearance, & then tries to ensure that criminals behind his death are put behind bars & given the justice that he, & society, believes that they deserve. Through this information, it becomes clear that Cadell must, in fact, be the hero, & Brandon & Phillip must be the villains. And so, rather than abiding by conformity & starring a hero fighting against better equipped villains (who usually prevail over such antagonists), we instead follow the story of two villains who attempt to overcome a more powerful hero, & fail in their attempt at getting away with their unsavoury & somewhat evil deed.
Whilst it is true that "Rope" breaks thriller conformity by disobeying the classic conventions of it's genre by starring little-to-no-action & using villains as our protagonists & heroes as our antagonists, it still falls into the thriller genre through it's use of other thriller devices. One such device is suspense. "Rope" is rich with suspense, forcing the audience onto the edge of their seats for the entirety of the film. Brandon & Phillip hide Kently's body inside a compartment within a table. They then lay some food upon the table & then invite a group of people over, all of which know of Kently's existence, for a party. This serves as a constant source of suspense for the audience, as anyone could open the compartment concealing Kently's body. Throughout the duration of the film various members of the house party walk upon the table, lean on the table, talk over the table, & commit various acts over & around this table all the while making the viewers, & Brandon & Phillips, worry that the guests could uncover the body. Some people, especially Cadell, become suspicious of the tabkes new found location, & constantly questions it, almost opening it on various occasions. Despite the fact that Brandon & Phillip have become criminals (Phillip less willingly so, being manipulated by Brandon & constantly regretting such decisions throughout the film) & murdered a perfectly innocent man, the fact that they are our protagonist almost forcing us to wish them well & not want them to be found put, as we know the grisly fate of which will fall upon them if they are to be found out. This then makes the entire film a constant source of suspense as we are constantly hoping the two are not found out, though the table is almost opened on various occasions, until the end of the film when it eventually is.
The film makes great use of a cliff hanger, which is very common thriller device. The production itself ends on a cliff hanger, as Cadell fires his gun, alerting others & forcing to call the police. The film then fades out as well see Brandon, Phllip & Cadell sitting in their room, as sirens sound in the distance. We are then left to assume Brandon & Phillip's fate, as they are to undoubtedly be punished for their crimes.
Dramatic irony is also used throughout the film. Throughout the film's run we see various people almost find out about the body in the table, something that we are aware of for the entirety of the film's duration. This serves as a constant source of dramatic irony throughout the film, as many characters, Cadell in specific, come closer & closer to uncovering the mystery, of which we already know the answer to. Hitchcock made a constant decision to make sure that the audience already knew the fact that the body was hidden in the trunk, when he could have done otherwise. If we did not know that the body were in the trunk, then film may have been much more mysterious, causing us to constantly wonder where the body was, & given the audience a great surprise when the body itself was uncovered. Though this may have been a great source of suspense, it would have almost turned the film into more of a mystery story than a thriller, & would not have merely had have such a great affect on the audience as it does the way Hitchcock engineered it. By already giving us the information on the body's whereabouts, we are force into a situation full of much mire suspense, constantly wondering whether the characters will find out about the body whenever they they approach it. This is also something of which helps the film to fall into the thriller genre, the genre of which Hitchcock is renowned for excelling in.
In order to stay true to Patrick Hamilton's play, Hitchcock wanted to film the production as a "continuous play". He experimented in real time, meaning that Rope pretends to be a one-shot film, continuous-take cinema. He did this by filming the film in ten minute sequences (since the film came in ten minute reels) &, at the end of each reel, making the camera zoom in on a particular item or object, such as the back of a certain character, at the end of a reel, & then starting the next reel at that exact same point & then zooming back out. This technique bodes well for the film, & it is not overly noticeable, slipping seemlessly into the production.
