Review on Rope

Review on Rope (1948)

Rope 1948

This film is shot continuously with no cuts as a review on Variety explains. 'Feature of the picture is that story action is continuous without time lapses. Action takes place within an hour-and-a-half period and the film footage nearly duplicates the span, being 80 minutes.' (Variety, 1947) The use of not cutting in the film shows, scenes are slow and dawn out. For example the scenes where the camera zooms into the back of a character is irrelevant and feels that it should have been removed, as review on Time Out London agrees. 'Constructed entirely from uncut ten-minute takes, shot on a beautifully-constructed set, it's certainly a virtuoso piece of technique, but the lack of cutting inevitably slows things down, entailing the camera swooping from one character to another during dialogues.' (Time Out London, 2011)

 Item of Murder

It seems that the film was made to have no cuts and zooming into a dark image would be the best way to change the film when it run out without it breaking away from the smooth continuous footage. This film also has a stage or theater like feel to it as well, as mentioned by Vincent Canby in a review on The New York Times. 'Hitchcock was interested in seeing whether he could find a cinematic equivalent to the play, which takes place in the actual length of time of the story. To do this, he decided to shoot it in what would appear to be one long, continuous "take," without cutaways or any other breaks in the action, though in fact there would have to be a disguised break every 10 minutes, which was as much film as the camera could contain.' (The New York Times, 1984)

Suspicions of Murder

Illustrations

Figure 1. Hitchcock, Alfred. (1948) Rope 1948. [Poster] At: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfredhitchcock/4710908105/ (Accessed on: 02.02.11)

Figure 2. Hitchcock, Alfred. (1948) Item of Murder. [Screen Cap] At: http://thisdistractedglobe.com/2007/10/18/rope-1948/ (Accessed on: 02.02.11)

Figure 3. Hitchcock, Alfred. (1948) Suspicions of Murder. [Screen Cap] At: http://thefilmwotiwatched.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/rope-1948/ (Accessed on: 02.02.11)

Bibliography

Canby, Vincent. (1984) Rope: A Stunt to Behold. http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/060384hitch-rope-reflection.html (Accessed on: 02.02.11)

Time Out London. (2011) Rope (1948). http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/76944/rope.html (Accessed on: 02.02.11)

Variety. (1947) Rope. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117794569?refcatid=31 (Accessed on: 02.02.11)