 James Stewart, Farley Granger and John Dall star in this macabre spellbinder, which was inspired by a real-life case of murder. Two thrill-seeking friends (Granger and Dall) strangle a classmate and then hold a party for their victim's family and friends, serving refreshments on a buffet table fashioned from a trunk containing the lifeless body. When dinner conversation revolves around talk of the "perfect murder," their former teacher (Stewart) becomes increasingly suspicious that his students have turned his intellectual theories into brutal reality. Storyline: Brandon and Philip are two young men who share a New York apartment. They consider themselves intellectually superior to their friend David Kentley and as a consequence decide to murder him. Together they strangle David with a rope and placing the body in an old chest, they proceed to hold a small party. The guests include David's father, his fiancée Janet and their old schoolteacher Rupert from whom they mistakenly took their ideas. As Brandon becomes increasingly more daring, Rupert begins to suspect. Written by Col Needham Plot Summary | Add Synopsis Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on October 31, 2012 -- A man confronts his accuser atop the Statue of Liberty, where one false move will spell death. A wolf in sheep's clothing allows the beast lurking within to bear its teeth. A housemaster slowly, oh so slowly, pieces together the heinous crime perpetrated by two former students. A woman searches for clues in a suspected murderer's apartment just as the man returns home. Four people work to keep the demise of a fellow smalltown resident a secret from a local deputy. An assassin's gun slides out from behind a curtain as an ordinary man races to thwart his plot. An airplane buzzes then roars past as a man dives for cover. The hiss of a shower masks the approach of a madman with a knife in his hand. Countless birds gather on a jungle gym as a woman smokes a cigarette nearby. A husband barges into his new wife's bedroom and has his way with her as she retreats into a near-catatonic state. A physicist discovers killing a man isn't as easy as it might seem, wrestling with his victim right up until the violent end. A purple dress billows out beneath a dying woman like spilled blood. A serial killer retrieves his pin from a woman's grasp, one dead finger at a time. A fake psychic tries to squirm out of a thief's vice-like grip as he pushes a syringe closer and closer. Be it drama, horror or comedy, psychological stunner, monster movie or international spy thriller, is it any mystery that filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was known as the Master of Suspense? Is it any wonder his movies still hold hypnotic sway over filmfans all these years later? One of Hitchcock's more daring gambles, Rope is all at once a gimmick, a technical oddity and an absorbing cat and mouse thriller bolstered by a riveting story, gripping performances, and slow-brew suspense that settles in within minutes of the film's opening shot and doesn't relent until the wail of police sirens fills the night air. The ever-candid director famously dismissed his efforts as "an experiment that didn't work out," and critics and audiences of the era seemed to agree. But the only thing that hinders Rope is the experiment itself. Ten long takes, rolling walls, shifting sets... it was a stageplay committed to film, and a nimble one at that. And yet the material and the actors rise above the ten-take sleight of hand and deliver something wholly unexpected: a socially subversive, psychologically seductive morality tale that doesn't let up and just won't let go. Brandon Shaw is slimy, frightening, unpredictable and, somehow, undeniably magnetic as a young man riding high on his own philosophical and intellectual superiority. Farley Granger is a dangerously sweaty bundle of nerves as his friend and co-conspirator. And Jimmy Stewart, who would go on to star in three additional Hitchcock films (Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo), is perfectly charming and perfectly cool as the wily old teacher who sniffs out their deception. The third act is as tense as any -- They know what's in the box. We know what's in the box. Will Rupert discover what lies in the box? -- and with Stewart in rare form, it's all too easy to forget Rope began its life as a mere technical exercise. Hitchcock may have shrugged off his accomplishment, but the third film in the Masterpiece Collection remains a terrificly understated cerebral thriller, as well as a personal favorite. I've seen Rope more than a dozen times over the years and yet it never fails to command my complete attention. Dall and Stewart are two ends of the same live wire, Hitchcock's control of his experiment allows substance to trump style, and the third act is one of the director's most exciting, even if it involves little more than two intellectual and philosophical adversaries talking. It's a film I hope finds new life on Blu-ray, despite its somewhat problematic AV presentation. Thankfully, its video transfer and DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix are decidedly decent, making this one easy to recommend, flaws or no. Cameo: Rope - 1948 - 0:55 - His trademark silhouette can be seen on a red neon sign advertising "Reduco" in the view from the apartment window. Cast Notes: Dick Hogan (David Kentley), John Dall (Brandon - His Friend), Farley Granger (Phillip - His Friend), Edith Evanson (Mrs. Wilson - Their Housekeeper), Douglas Dick (Kenneth - Their Rival), Joan Chandler (Janet - David's Girl), Cedric Hardwicke (Mr. Kentley - David's Father [as Sir Cedric Hardwicke]), Constance Collier (Mrs. Atwater - David's Mother), James Stewart (Rupert Cadell). IMDb Rating (07/25/14): 8.1/10 from 76,157 users Top 250: #242 IMDb Rating (12/22/12): 8.1/10 from 53,969 users Top 250: #206
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