john dall — i luv cinema

Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: Rope (1948)

This week I have chosen to talk about Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope from 1948.

At the film’s start, we see a murder taking place in an apartment. After ‘disposing’ of the body in a less-than-discreet place, our antagonists, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) are in throws of preparing for a dinner party. Among the guests to this party are the victim’s fiance, father and former romantic rival. Rounding out the guest list is the pair’s former teacher and mentor, Rupert Cadell, portrayed by James Stewart.

As the evening transpires, the conversation becomes increasingly morose; and James Stewart’s Rupert begins to piece together that something is just not right. As the party dies down, Rupert makes the shocking and unimaginable discovery.

Rope has many layers to it. For one, the story is based on a play, which in turn was ‘inspired’ by the real life case of Leopold and Loeb, who were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a 14 year old boy. It also deals with the intellectual exercise of executing the ‘perfect murder’ (presumably one where the perpetrators do not get caught). Another debate the characters have in the film is about the philosophical concept of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche‘s Übermensch (Superman) and the notion of one man’s superiority to another.

Rope is well regarded in film circles and among Hitchcock fans, but is not as well known to the general public. Among the film’s various accomplishments are:

it is the first of Hitchcock’s Technicolor films
it takes place in real time
it was edited so as to appear as a single continuous shot through the use of long takes. This was achieved by panning, closeups and dissolves, among other techniques. (Source: Wikipedia)

This piece of cinema represents Hitchcock at his most experimental and daring. The idea of Hitchcock being an experimental filmmaker seems antithetical to the impression often associated with him – that is he is often characterized as a controlling taskmaster who methodically laid out all the scenes from his films shot-by-shot. It is worth seeing for this alone.

* For another Hitchcock recommendation this week, go to Flixchatter and read Ruth’s take on 1945′s Spellbound

* Also be sure to go to Todd Mason’s blog for more Overlooked Films

Quick Reaction to “Gun Crazy” (1950)

Tonight Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is featuring the films of B-movie director Joseph H. Lewis. So far I have watched “So Dark the Night” (a surprisingly clever film featuring a bevvy of French actors). I am currently near the final 1/3 of “Gun Crazy” a film that I have been eager to catch but never had the opportunity. It is perhaps the best known of Mr. Lewis’ films and required viewing for students of the film noir movement.

However as I am watching it I am a little let down; my expectations were of an authentic, gritty crime thriller of sorts but that is not what I have watched. Sure there are dramatic and somewhat tense moments but nothing on the scale that I was looking for in a noir drama. Of particular interest to me was the performance of John Dall. As the male lead I assumed that his character “Bart” would be the primary catalyst of the criminal action – similar to his portrayal of “Brandon” of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope” (another personal favorite of mine). But instead, he is the trigger-happy, yet reasonable in some ways foil to his more ruthless partner in crime, “Laurie” (Ms. Cummins).

I am still happy that I saw it because in spite of my original expectations being altered as a result of the viewing it is notable in my estimation for one reason – the fact that the female (femme fatale) is so dominant in the relationship and really the one that we should look out for.