Whenever the fine art of film editing is discussed within the confines of film classes or critics' circles, it is not uncommon to hear the name of British director Alfred Hitchcock. Many of the most beautifully edited shots in film, such as the scene in North by Northwest where Cary Grant is pursued by an airplane, or the infamous shower scene in the horror classic Psycho, are attributed to Hitchcock.
It is for this very reason that his 1948 suspense film Rope is something of an anomaly among Hitchcock's works. Rather than achieve suspense and simulate visceral action through the use of advanced editing techniques, Hitchcock chose instead to craft a solid mystery that abstains from hardly any editing and instead relies on strong performances to supply the tension.
The plot of the film is rather morbid, especially for its time. At the start of the film Brandon Shaw and Phillip Morgan, two intelligent (but naive) young men who exist in the upper echelon of most social circles, choke one of their colleagues to death with a length of rope. Afterward, they place the deceased inside a large chest, so that the guests they have invited for dinner that night do not discover the body. In an act of either macabre humor or blinding arrogance, they decide to place a dining room cover on the chest and serve their guests on top of the makeshift resting place of the corpse.
One of their guests, their former teacher and intellectual peer Rupert Cadell, gradually suspects that something is awry, and the two young men begin to fear that their secret might not be as safe as they presumed. As the film progresses, the two young men become more and more concerned that their vicious act will be discovered, and Rupert finds himself closer and closer to the truth that is hidden in the chest.
Hitchcock's skill in creating a nervous tone in his film that exists within the viewer as well as the film is done very effectively throughout the course of Rope. The performances in the film, especially those of the two young men (John Dall and Farley Granger), create an atmosphere of paranoia and throughout the film it feels as if the truth is just one moment away from being exposed to all.
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