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| Fig 1 : Rope Poster |
Without hearing much about this film before watching it,
apart from the fact this film was one continuous shot. Alfred Hitchcocks Rope (1948)
may seem slow paced ,however, Hitchcock
as he does with most of his films smashes the suspense to make the audience
engaged and wanting to watch more with every passing second.
“The play depended,
for its effect, on the fact that it was one continuous series of actions. Once
the characters have entered the room, there can’t be any jumps in time, or the
suspense will be lost. The audience must know that the body is always right
there in the trunk.” (Ebert ,1984) Although Ebert
says this as if it is a bad
thing, the murder was a central part of this film and the positioning of the
trunk always being there could be a constant reminder that there is a body in
the trunk and while Brandon is always trying to make the situation as
sadistically pleasing as possible, if the trunk wasn`t in the shot the audience
could only focus on the speech. Whereas if the trunk is there too, the speech
could have an extra impact knowing the body is there while he is speaking.
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| Fig 2 |
"Did you think you were God, Brandon?" Hitchcock always
smirked that in his films the director was God.” (Hutchinson, 2012) With this
quote in mind, Hitchcock may have intentionally made a relatable link between
him and Brandon in the sense that Brandon feels as if he governs the stage of
this murder and he is in command of every little detail and in sense a God as
Hitchcock puts it. This could argue the fact that Brandon feels above the role
that he is in the film and is on the same level as Hitchcock and those in the
play are only around to be disposed of and to be controlled or have fun with.
At the time homosexuality was seen as a sin and those who
were homosexual were portrayed as devious and crafting in film and television.
This portrayal follows up in this film. Where the murderous pair are a homosexual
couple and one, the dominant of the pair is shown to take pleasure in murder
and the art and crafts in making the perfect murder. There is hardly any love
shown between the pair, which may be because of this murder driving a rift
between the pair and Brandon may be overwhelmed with ecstasy. This is hinted at
after the pair commit the murder and straight after he takes a cigarette and
groans in what seems an almost orgasmic way. As Canby says, “It's another
measure of Hitchcock's wiles that, though the film was made back in the days
when any suggestion of homosexuality was supposedly taboo, "Rope" is
immediately explicit without actually committing any offenses the Production
Code people could object to.” (Canby, 1984) The film isn`t explicit, but, with the
hinted touches between the pair and the murder this is enough to hint at the
sexual feeling without being obvious.
Overall, despite the slow moving pace of Rope the film
conveyed a subtle suspense which left the audience wanting to watch more.
Although not as well-known nor successful as his later films for an experiment
that still engrossed the audience, the experiment was a success which later
inspired much more contemporary films to film in a single long shot.
Bibliography:
Ebert,R (1984) Rope at : www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rope-1948 [Accessed 14/01/16]
Canby , V (1984) 'Rope' : A Stunt to Behold at : http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/060384hitch-rope-reflection.html [Accessed 14/01/16]
Hutchinson , P (2012) My Favorite Hitchcock : Rope at : http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/27/my-favourite-hitchcock-rope [Accessed 14/01/16]
Fig 1 Rope 2 (Poster) [Accessed 16/01/16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_%28film%29#/media/File:Rope2.jpg
Fig 2 : (Screengrab) [Accessed 16/01/16] http://beermovie.net/2015/01/
