Thousands of films have featured evil and murder as their subjects, but no filmmakers can master the topics the way Alfred Hitchcock could. Where other directors make movies about bogeymen who slash people to ribbons for revenge or bloodlust or money, Hitchcock took delight in portraying evil not as the nightmarish visions of the slasher, but as good-looking young men who could easily blend into the crowd. Real evil more often comes with a friendly smile and a handshake than it does with a knife.
Take Brandon Shaw (John Dall), the murderer in Rope. Brandon kills not because of anger or for profit, but for the artistry of it; the thought of killing an inferior being and getting away with it scot-free is too intriguing to pass up. To him, murder isn't just an unparalleled adrenaline rush, but an art form. Minutes after strangling David Kently and hiding the corpse in a large wooden chest in his living room, he has a dinner party where the guests include David's parents and fiancee. Even better, hors d'oeuvres will be served on the temporary grave. His joy and satisfaction are palatable — "The perfect crime," he says to his partner, "with no mistakes".
He is wrong. His first mistake was to include Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger), his roommate and homosexual lover, in the plan. Unlike Brandon, Phillip isn't a psychopath, and finds himself instantly smitten with guilt over the crime. Brandon likely foresaw this, but with an ego as big as his, was unable to comprehend performing the perfect crime and then having no one to boast about it with.
His second mistake was to invite Rupert Cadell (Jimmy Stewart, perfect as always), their old teacher, to the dinner party. Brandon couldn't resist, as Rupert's discussions about Nietzsche's's superman philosophy provided the moral justification to Brandon that spurred him to commit the murder in the first place. And, while fooling the rest of the dinner guests may be easy, Rupert's constant suspicion and inquisitiveness provide a real challenge, the finishing touch to this masterpiece of crime. Surely even if Rupert discovered the truth, he'd understand, right?
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Article comments
1 - Aaron Fleming
A brilliant film and an excellent summation of it by yourself. I'd rate it as maybe Hitchcock's best, personally up there with Dial M For Murder and North By Northwest for me. Genius!