Tuesday 19 March 8pm at The Star, 47 Chester Road, N19 5DF
“Not merely a stunt that is justified by the extraordinary career that contains it, but one of the movies that makes that career extraordinary.” - Vincent Canby, New York Times
Alfred Hitchcock’s first colour film was adapted from Patrick Hamilton's play Rope's End by no less than Hume Cronyn.
Their heads filled with Nietzschean philosophy by their kindly professor James Stewart, two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate just for the thrill of it. The pair hide the body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime.
Rope is one of Hitchcock's most experimental movies. Aside from the establishing shot the film takes place in a single room. Each shot runs up to 10 minutes in length and are edited to give the impression that the film was actually filmed in a single take.
Watch the trailer >>
Related Links
Hitchcock's Rope: A Stunt Behold - Vincent Canby's 1984 review from the New York Times
Why Did We Pick It?
Michel in Pickpocket justifies his crimes by defining himself as one of Friedrich Nietzsche's “supermen”. In Rope Jimmy Stewart's Professor Cadell inspires his muderous students with Nietzschean philosophy.
