ROPE (1948)

When British director Alfred Hitchcock reached Hollywood, his trenchant wit, often finding the humor in quite deadly situations, was a relief from more sentimental pictures. For this 1948 thriller, his first independent production, he stages a long dinner scene bubbling with clever conversation among guests who don’t know there’s a dead body in the room. John Dall and Farley Granger star as friends out to prove their superiority by pulling off the perfect murder. James Stewart co-stars as their former teacher whose readings in philosophy inadvertently inspired them. As an experiment, Hitchcock made the film look as if it had been shot in one long take. Even without obvious editing, Hitchcock manipulates the camera to pick out details that could lead to the murderers being exposed, which generates maximum levels of his signature suspense.

d. Alfred Hitchcock, 81m, DCP

DCP courtesy of Universal Pictures.