Search - Rope on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Violence, Not For Children Movie Release: 1948 DVD Release: 03/06/2001 Format: DVD - Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 21 mins Studio: Universal Studios Members Wishing: 25 Genres: Drama, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Film a Clef See Also: Rope

Rope, Alfred Hitchcock's first color film, was adapted from Patrick Hamilton's stage play Rope's End by no less than Hume Cronyn. Loosely inspired by the Leopold-Loeb case, the plot concerns two implicitly homosexual college chums, played by Farley Granger and John Dall. Their heads filled with Nietzchean philosophy by their kindly professor James Stewart, Granger and Dall kill a third friend just for the thrill of it. The boys hide the body in an antique chest in the middle of their posh apartment, then perversely arrange to hold a dinner party around the chest, inviting the victim's family, friends and fiancee (Joan Chandler), as well as their intellectual role-model Stewart. As the guests wander obliviously around the sealed chest, the killers make snippy, veiled comments about their deed--never going so far as to reveal the existence of the body nor their involvement in the murder. As all the guests file out, however, professor Stewart begins to suspect that something is amiss. In Rope, Hitchcock attempted the daunting technical challenge of filming the entire picture in one long, seemingly uninterrupted take. Actually, there are several edits in the movie: since a reel of film was divided into two ten-minute minireels back in 1948, the internal reel-breaks are "fudged" by having a dark object briefly obscure the camera lens, sustaining the illusion that no editing has taken place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Stewart - Rupert Cadell
John Dall - Brandon Shaw
Farley Granger - Phillip Morgan
Cedric Hardwicke - Mr. Kentley
Constance Collier - Mrs. Atwater

Alfred Hitchcock loved presenting himself with technical challenges and then overcoming these self-imposed "limits." This Universal DVD release of Rope not only provides a pristine print of the original film but goes in-depth into the making of this odd, technically challenging movie. Rope was Hitch's first color film and the full-screen transfer is excellent, matching the original theatrical aspect ratio. The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio transfer receives an equally fine transfer, though since Rope is essentially a filmed play, it doesn't exactly feature a dynamic soundtrack. "Rope Unleashed," the included "making of" documentary, explains how Hitchcock used the material to seemingly shoot a film in one extended take (the faux skyline that changes from day to night is in itself an amazing creation), and goes into depth on the homosexual nature of the characters and how they had to be carefully presented in order to slip past the censors. The good humor and cheer of all involved (including the writers and star Farley Granger) is very evident on "Rope Unleashed" and in the included gallery of production stills. Rope may be far from Hitchcock's best movie, but this excellent DVD helps explain how the director still managed to make a good movie against enormous odds. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide