Rope

Rope (1948) was created by Alfred Hitchcock, he described the movie as an experiment that did not work out, however, this movie is now seen as an intriguing experiment created by a ‘major’ director. The movie was nominated an Edgar for the best motion picture to Arthur Laurents and Patrick Hamilton.
 The story starts off with the two main characters Brandon (played by John Dall) and Phillip (played by Farley Granger) strangling David Kentley with a rope. They then decide to hide the body in an old chest which they turned into a dining table to lay of suspicions. They proceed on having a party in the same room hoping no one will find out their secret.

Part of Alfred Hitchcock’s experiment was to make the audience feel tense, at the end he was successful in creating this atmosphere because “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) Hitchcock did not only leave the characters in the room where the chest is viewable, he also played with the camera angles and diegetic sounds to create the suspension. For example, when Mrs Wilson (played by Edith Evanson) was cleaning the chest the camera was placed stationary at a low angle on top of the chest, the only thing the audience would see is the characters leaning and talking (creating the suspense). When Rupert Cadell (played by James Stewart) felt suspicious and started investigating where David is, he interrogated Phillip. Whilst Philip was being questioned Hitchcock intelligently used the metronome on the piano connoting a time bomb, meaning Rupert was getting closed in his investigation.

“Technically, the best thing here is the studio skyline-backdrop, with fibreglass clouds, a travelling sun and neon lights that blink a garish red and green as the film reaches its climax.” (Hutchinson, 2012) Agreeing with Hutchinson, Hitchcock gave away signs that connotated something as the film started to progress. As shown in figure three when Rupert found out their secret a neon light from outside started flashing the colour red, green and white. The connotations of this colour meant Rupert has the answer and we should be alerted as the danger (personification of police) is coming (hence the meaning of red). Since all the scenes took place in one area it made the audience feel uncomfortable as there is no rest. Hitchcock creatively used a panning shot to show the past when Rupert explained what happened to David. For example, the camera starts off showing us the coat hangers and pans around the room where David sat, drank and where he got murdered. This is what made the movie so fascinating to watch as Hitchcock did not go to the extremes of creating a flashback or editing. This was all done by the camera positioning. 

The film shows Phillip and Brandon’s relationship as students living together, however, is more than just that. “(Joan Chandler’s suspiciously throwaway “How queer” seems to always bring the house down), the film is crammed with submerged gay intimations.” (F. Croce, 2006) Brandon and Phillip are very close when talking to each other and Hitchcock made Brandon start the scene with a cigarette in his hand another ‘connotation’ of them being couples. This is because when couples are done making love the first thing they get is a cigarette. Hitchcock intelligently uses some lines or little signs to represent where they are at in their relationship.
In conclusion, Hitchcock Experiment never failed as he was able to contain the tension in the film and move the camera in a certain way to explain something or to intimidate the audience.


Bibliography;
Ebert, Roger (1948) – Rope at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rope-1948 [Accessed: 31/01/2018]

Hutchinson, Pamela (2012) – My favourite Hitchcock: Rope at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/27/my-favourite-hitchcock-rope [Accessed: 31/01/2018]

F. Croce, Fernando (2006) – Rope at: https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/rope [Accessed: 31/01/2018]


Illustration;
Figure 1. – Rope (1948) – Alfred Hitchcock – Film poster
Figure 2. – Rope (1948) - Alfred Hitchcock - Images
Figure 3. – Rope (1948) - Alfred Hitchcock - Images
Figure 4. -Rope (1948) - Alfred Hitchcock - Images