Rope (1948)

This one marks another one off the list--although completely inadvertently. Per usual, it was on tv and seemed the only thing even remotely interesting so I watched it.

It's fine. I understand why it's on the list. For one, it's Hitchcock and, like Woody Allen, just about all of his films are on the list. But the most important feature of the film is that it was supposed to be shot in one continuous sequence (hello, Russian Ark) but instead Hitchcock shot it in ten minute sequences. So it's important in that sense.

Anyway, the basic plot is that Brandon and Phillip have killed David (as the movie opens we see David being strangled) and put into a chest in the living room of Brandon's apartment (that looks very similar in structure to the apartment in Roman Holiday). After the murder Phillip is waffling about the action while Brandon is reveling in the fact that he's killed someone for no real reason other than he can because he's of a higher station. And Brandon is giddy because they are having a party at the apartment in a matter of minutes and it's exhilarating to have a dead body right there with no one noticing. Well, the problem is that they've invited an old teacher, Rupert (James Stewart) to the party. Brandon thinks that Rupert holds the same opinions on murder--and he does, in theory but not in practice. So the whole movie is a party during which Phillip acts squirrelly, the guests are very worried about where David might be (because he was invited to the party too), and Brandon philosophizes about murder while serving food from the chest in which David lies instead of from the usual place of the dining room table. Rupert, of course, figures it all out and turns them in.

It's really only interesting in terms of the creation of the thing. I never really believed that Rupert would go along with the boys' plot nor did I think Rupert would approve of his theories being put into action nor did I think Rupert wouldn't discover the dead body. The only question was when the body would be discovered and the running time of the film sort of dictated that because once the body was found the game was up and so would be the trick of the film.