Before watching Rope (1948), I had never seen a movie from that decade, or even close to it. My good friend is really into film, so because of her I’ve seen a lot of strange and unusual movies, Rope being no exception. It really is a great movie to watch if you’re into thriller movies or want to get a taste of what film was like in the ‘40s.
Rope begins as Brandon, played by John Dall, and Philip, played by Farley Granger, (who are implied to be in a relationship) strangle their “intellectually inferior” friend and old classmate David with, you guessed it, a rope. Right off the bat the main characters are unlikeable due to their inflated egos (more so Brandon since he’s more controlling and the mastermind behind the plan), and Brandon decided that just killing someone isn’t enough. His grand plan is to host a dinner party at their penthouse with all of David’s friends and family, serving dinner on top of his grave. This sets an intense and stressful tone for the rest of the movie.
Something really unique about the film is the way it’s shot and and edited. The movie takes place in “real time” as you’re watching it, and does a great job at making the experience immersive and feel as though you’re watching in on a dinner party gone wrong. Looking further into how the film was made, there were actually only eleven cuts in the entire film, which is incredible and a rare thing to see, even by today’s standards. It definitely achieves its goal of making it seem like a one take film.
The only set used in Rope is the penthouse Brandon and Philip live in, and because the movie is meant to be in real time, it doesn’t show any other location since our main characters don’t leave within the 80 minute run-time. A word used often in reviews to describe the feeling the set invokes is claustrophobic, and that’s probably one of the best words to describe it since it feels as though you, the viewer, is stuck watching in on a very sticky situation, and so are the main characters.
Rope does a great job at not only captivating the audience, but also keeping them on edge for the entire film. The movie’s concept in itself keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat, which makes it a great idea to base a movie off of. It’s a captivating film that keeps the attention of the viewer really well, and would be a great movie to watch if you’re into films and want to watch something experimental from the ‘40s.