Rope is an eighty-minute waltz, with the camera dancing cheek-to-cheek with a provocative story of cold-blooded murder. The gimmick of filming the movie in one fluid shot in real-time puts extra burden on the actors and on Hitchcock to tell the story effectively without editing as a narrative device. And they all perform their tasks with resounding success. The lack of cuts takes away from several key reaction shots and such cinematic qualities as pacing and rhythm, but it accentuates the dialogue, which mimics the fluidity of action Hitchcock seemed to be going for.
There is a keen sense of space at work, with the camera slowly bringing us into contact with the various areas of the apartment in which the film is set. The camera frame isolates the characters, making us voyeurs on their intimate conversations. It moves about like a silent accomplice to the murder and the events proceeding it. The characters and situations are placed in front of us, forcing us to deal with them whether we want to or not--the dissolve or fade out won't save us this time.
All of it is executed with the utmost precision and skill of all involved. Although the film isn't necessarily cinematic, it does what many other films fail to do: tell its story effectively. And in that respect, Rope fulfills one of the basic purposes of the medium of film.
There is a keen sense of space at work, with the camera slowly bringing us into contact with the various areas of the apartment in which the film is set. The camera frame isolates the characters, making us voyeurs on their intimate conversations. It moves about like a silent accomplice to the murder and the events proceeding it. The characters and situations are placed in front of us, forcing us to deal with them whether we want to or not--the dissolve or fade out won't save us this time.
All of it is executed with the utmost precision and skill of all involved. Although the film isn't necessarily cinematic, it does what many other films fail to do: tell its story effectively. And in that respect, Rope fulfills one of the basic purposes of the medium of film.