Imagine this
Entire movie shot in one single house, that too a set(it is a hitchcock movie you see)
there are only 8-9 characters in the entire movie
despite being a thriller, not a single gun-shot is fired(till the end i.e.)
there is only one crime and the movie and that too it is the first scene of the movie
the entire movie revolves around a piece of Rope that was used to commit the crime.
Now, if you are handed over the above constraints and challenged to make a movie out of it, how challenging do you feel it would be? Would it be possible? would it be easy at all?
Hitchcock did make a movie with all the above constraint and the name of the movie, predictably is "ROPE". The movie is based on a stage play, which hitchcock adapted.
It is the story of two friends who are of the strong belief that few human beings are born superior and they can even go to the extent of killing other beings, whom they feel are inferior, just to prove their superiority, a theory that was approved by one of their school housemasters(james stewart).
Now the friends(boy-friends actually, you will notice more than one ocassion that suggests that these two are gays :) ) decide to test the theory and murder one of their other classmate by strangling him with a rope. To prove the theory further, they even organize a party. Now do not assume that they will dispose off the body before the party, that is the thrilling(chilling) part, they place the body inside a book chest, which is in the living room, and they decide to shift the party from the dining area to the living room, just to add to the thrill. They even place all the food items over the chest. To add to it, the invitees to the party include, the dead guy’s parents, his girlfriend, another of their classmates, their former housemaster(who approved off their theory) and an aunt.
the setup cant get more exciting or thrilling than this, we will move to the edge of our seats each time someone goes near the chest or inquires about what is actually in the chest. To add to all the thrill, one of the two friends is mentally very strong, whereas the other friend(his partner) is a bit nervous about the whole idea of partying around the dead body.
I do not wish to reveal any more, as this is definitely one more special from Hitchcock which deserves a full viewing to enjoy it completely. James stewart is the lead character though he is not part of the duo which commits the murder, he dons the role of the house master Rupert. Acting by James stewart and the duo John Dall and Farley Granger is the major source of the entire thrill, for their expression and dialog delivery is what makes you feel the suspense!
As usual the dialogues of the movie are full of wit, and parts of the dialogue reveal the sexual orientation of the duo. Hitchcock was quite daring to portray homosexuality in days when it was considered a taboo. Yet another scoring point of the movie You will also notice that there are more than one instance where the scene goes on non-stop, I learn that a single film real was not enough to capture the entire sequence continuously, so Hitchcock used connectors to make the scenes appear as a single scene whereas they were actually edited and joined. Overall, yet another masterpiece by the genius of thrillers!!!
go watch it for yourself!!