Rope

 (1948)

Rope Blu-ray offers solid video and audio in this overall recommended Blu-ray release
Two wealthy young men try to commit the perfect crime by murdering a friend.

For more about Rope and the Rope Blu-ray release, see the Rope Blu-ray Review

Starring: James Stewart, Farley Granger, John Dall, Douglas Dick, Cedric Hardwicke, Edith Evanson
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

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Rope Blu-ray Review

"Did you think you were God, Brandon?"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, October 31, 2012

A man confronts his accuser atop the Statue of Liberty, where one false move will spell death. A wolf in sheep's clothing allows the beast lurking within to bear its teeth. A housemaster slowly, oh so slowly, pieces together the heinous crime perpetrated by two former students. A woman searches for clues in a suspected murderer's apartment just as the man returns home. Four people work to keep the demise of a fellow smalltown resident a secret from a local deputy. An assassin's gun slides out from behind a curtain as an ordinary man races to thwart his plot. An airplane buzzes then roars past as a man dives for cover. The hiss of a shower masks the approach of a madman with a knife in his hand. Countless birds gather on a jungle gym as a woman smokes a cigarette nearby. A husband barges into his new wife's bedroom and has his way with her as she retreats into a near-catatonic state. A physicist discovers killing a man isn't as easy as it might seem, wrestling with his victim right up until the violent end. A purple dress billows out beneath a dying woman like spilled blood. A serial killer retrieves his pin from a woman's grasp, one dead finger at a time. A fake psychic tries to squirm out of a thief's vice-like grip as he pushes a syringe closer and closer. Be it drama, horror or comedy, psychological stunner, monster movie or international spy thriller, is it any mystery that filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was known as the Master of Suspense? Is it any wonder his movies still hold hypnotic sway over filmfans all these years later?

During a party, a teacher begins to suspect two of his former students of having committed a murder...

One of Hitchcock's more daring gambles, Rope is all at once a gimmick, a technical oddity and an absorbing cat and mouse thriller bolstered by a riveting story, gripping performances, and slow-brew suspense that settles in within minutes of the film's opening shot and doesn't relent until the wail of police sirens fills the night air. The ever-candid director famously dismissed his efforts as "an experiment that didn't work out," and critics and audiences of the era seemed to agree. But the only thing that hinders Rope is the experiment itself. Ten long takes, rolling walls, shifting sets... it was a stageplay committed to film, and a nimble one at that. And yet the material and the actors rise above the ten-take sleight of hand and deliver something wholly unexpected: a socially subversive, psychologically seductive morality tale that doesn't let up and just won't let go. Brandon Shaw is slimy, frightening, unpredictable and, somehow, undeniably magnetic as a young man riding high on his own philosophical and intellectual superiority. Farley Granger is a dangerously sweaty bundle of nerves as his friend and co-conspirator. And Jimmy Stewart, who would go on to star in three additional Hitchcock films (Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo), is perfectly charming and perfectly cool as the wily old teacher who sniffs out their deception. The third act is as tense as any -- They know what's in the box. We know what's in the box. Will Rupert discover what lies in the box? -- and with Stewart in rare form, it's all too easy to forget Rope began its life as a mere technical exercise. Hitchcock may have shrugged off his accomplishment, but the third film in the Masterpiece Collection remains a terrificly understated cerebral thriller, as well as a personal favorite.

Rope Blu-ray, Video Quality

 

Rope's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is something of a step down from the striking, utterly faithful presentations that accompany Saboteur and Shadow of a Doubt. Key aspects of Universal's remastering showcase the film's high definition promise; other aspects of the resulting image, though, indicate a complete ground-up restoration is in order. First, the good, which far outweighs the bad. Detail is rewarding -- revelatory even -- with crisp edges, precisely resolved fine textures, and a pleasing veneer of grain. Closeups are particularly strong and boast the sort of nuances that demand to be noticed and appreciated. Yes, slight artificial sharpening halos are visible from time to time, and yes, the opening murder is a murky and unfaltering mess, but none of it leads to any lingering disappointment or distraction. Print damage is in short supply too, as are any encoding anomalies. In fact, there are only a few issues worth noting. Colors are subdued on the whole, skintones are a touch muddy and under-saturated, faint flickering is visible and red color fringe affects several shots. (Rope was shot using three-strip Technicolor, a process which hinged on the perfect alignment of three color separation negatives. If the red layer is a hair off, thin red lines occasionally appear that behave a bit like edge halos.) In the end, Rope's presentation will satisfy the casual viewer but leave more diligent videophiles anxious for a definitive restoration.

Rope Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 

Universal's two-channel DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix is rather hit or miss, although it hits far more often than it misses. The film's first, fourth and seventh tracking shots are prone to unevenness and thin voices -- both presumably inherent to the original audio elements, both at their relative worst in the first shot -- and the score is somewhat cramped now and again. Otherwise, all is as it should be. Dialogue is intelligible and neatly grounded, effects are clean and clear (stagy though they may be), hiss isn't an issue and any noise floor has been subdued without impacting the integrity of the soundscape. Rope's AV presentation isn't the best of the Masterpiece Collection bunch, but it certainly isn't the worst.

Rope Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

 

• Rope Unleashed (SD, 32 minutes): Collaborator/treatment writer Hume Cronyn, screenwriter Arthur Laurents and actor Farley Granger (Phillip Morgan) dig into Hitchcock's adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's stage play, the homosexuality inherent in the film (dubbed "It" by the studio execs), the performances, Hitch's continuous long takes, the obstacles the tricky takes created, and much more. Even so, the documentary is more notable for Laurents' criticism of the final cut. The screenwriter grumbles about decisions made by Hitchcock and the cast, complains about several performances, gripes about changes made to his script, and explains how his version of the film would have played out differently.
• Production Photographs (SD, 8 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
• Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes)

Rope Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation

 

I've seen Rope more than a dozen times over the years and yet it never fails to command my complete attention. Dall and Stewart are two ends of the same live wire, Hitchcock's control of his experiment allows substance to trump style, and the third act is one of the director's most exciting, even if it involves little more than two intellectual and philosophical adversaries talking. It's a film I hope finds new life on Blu-ray, despite its somewhat problematic AV presentation. Thankfully, its video transfer and DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix are decidedly decent, making this one easy to recommend, flaws or no.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is releasing individual versions of four films from the Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection: Saboteur (1942) and Rope (1948) on May 7th, Shadow of a Doubt (1943) on June 4th and The Trouble with Harry (1955) on July 2nd. ...