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Calgary Herald (07/Dec/1995) - Hitchcock takes 'real time' trip

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Hitchcock takes 'real time' trip

ROPE (1948), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

The current Johnny Depp thriller, Nick of Time, is an example of the movie-making gimmick of "real time." The story's events have exactly the same duration as the film.

That cinematic challenge, and the touting of Depp as a James Stewart-like Hitchcockian hero, put me in mind of Rope. This famous 1948 experiment — Alfred Hitchcock's first movie in color — not only used real time, but tried to create the illusion of one continuous, 80-minute shot."I undertook Rope as a stunt," the director said.

It couldn't in fact be done as one unedited shot because the camera's reel ran out every 10 minutes, so Hitch filmed eight, 10-minute takes and disguised the joining points by focusing on something black, usually an actor's back.

What happens when you watch Rope, though, is that you forget to notice its technical achievements (including the way night gradually falls on the skyline seen through windows) because you're so engrossed in a well acted, nerve-wracking suspenser.

Adapted from a stage play, it's inspired by the real-life Leopold and Loeb "thrill kill" case. An elegant young gay couple, Brandon and Philip (John Dall and Farley Granger), begin their evening by strangling their friend David in their penthouse apartment and concealing his body in an antique chest.

The chillingly smooth, suave Brandon, who dominates the artistic Philip, says they've done it to prove that murder can be an immaculate work of art, and because the victim was an inferior being who was merely taking up space, while they are superior beings.

After brazenly setting out a buffet right on top of the chest, they greet their cocktail-party guests, who include the victim's sympathetically portrayed father, aunt, girlfriend, romantic rival, as well as Rupert (Stewart), an eccentric teacher who inspired the killers at prep school with his discussions of Nietzsche's "superman" theory.

As the sick soiree proceeds and Brandon draws Rupert into a conversation about the privilege of murder, it's clear that the warped killer can't distinguish between black humor and actual approval of violence.

Meanwhile, the nervous Philip is getting drunker and more remorseful ("These hands will bring you great fame," predicts David's aunt in the delicious moment when she reads his palms).

The guests worry about the no-show David (his fine qualities are discussed, so that you realize Brandon was probably jealous of him), and the analytical Rupert begins to suspect that something is very wrong.

The whole movie is a cocky dare. Hitchcock invites us to catch a slip in his technical sleight-of-hand, while the nervy Brandon dares his idol, Rupert, to guess the truth — going as far as to tie up a bundle of books for David's father with the rope used in the strangulation.

The title brings to mind the expression "Give 'em enough rope . . ." and you'll be riveted to see whether these thrill-seekers hang themselves.

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