Don't Make a Scene: Rope

The Story: Of course, there's always something "meta" about a Hitchcock movie. Those cameos he does...breaking the moment of suspense to take you out of the picture to see the man who made the movie take a figurative bow.*

And Rope, that's really something. There's always something theatrical about a Hitchcock movie. He staged things as if they had a proscenium arch around the edges. Rope even more so as it began as a stage play and Hitchcock decided to do it just like a stage play in one continuous take...to the audience's perspective, anyway. He set it up so that he could make an "invisible" transition whenever those 10 minute rolls of film ran out during production. And the film was a percursor to live television plays in that Hitchcock moved the camera (and the sets!) in order to focus attention on different corners of the room as conversations shift and his background city-scape edges through sunset into darkness.

At times, though, one is caught watching the camera moving than in what the actors are doing, so overt are the shifts. One really isn't supposed to be aware of the camera. Even star James Stewart groused that "Hitch" was "more concerned about directing the cameras than the actors!" I guess one doesn't worry about "breaking the fourth wall" when the camera is constantly threatening to plow through it!

 

But, for meta-"meta" how about this exchange in Rope where the guests are talking about movies (doesn't that happen at every party?). Of course, the movies are unidentifiable as nobody can remember the titles of them. It's the stars that people remember! And quite a few of Hitchcock's players are mentioned in passing: James Mason (North by Northwest), Cary Grant (North By Northwest again and Suspicion and...Notorious, which also starred...), Ingrid Bergman. It's Hitchcock having fun (as he would admonish Bergman: "Ingrid, it's only a movie!"). But, it's still surprising. And winking at the audience as he inevitably did.

The Set-up: A New York dinner party with the most tasteless centerpiece in the world. Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger ) have just strangled a college chum for the thrill of it, and have invited friends and family of the victim over for a post-mortem party, never betraying that the person they're missing is right under their noses. Guest of honor, of course, is their old house-master Philip Cadell (James Stewart), who inadvertently inspired the horrendous act.

 

Action.

 

Mrs. Wilson appears with her tray and the wine. 

MRS. ATWATER Talking of skeletons, have you seen that new thing at the Strand? 

JANET: Yes. I adored it! 

MRS. ATWATER: Did you? Good! 

MRS. ATWATER: I didn't care for her much. That new girl. Definitely Scorpio.

JANET: No, I didn't like her either, but her clothes were fabulous.  

MRS. ATWATER: Simply divine! 

JANET: Absolutely heaven! 

RUPERT: I must see it. 

JANET: Of course, the man I have a passion for is James Mason. 

RUPERT: Is he good? 

JANET: Absolutely terrific. 

MRS. ATWATER: So attractively sinister. Taurus The Bull, you know. Very obstinate. 

RUPERT: Really? 

MRS. ATWATER: I have a confession, though. I think I like Mason as much as Errol Flynn. 

JANET: I'll take Cary Grant myself. 

MRS. ATWATER: Oh so will I!.. 

MRS. ATWATER: Capricorn The Goat. He leaps! Divine! So much...mmm... 

JANET: Oh yes! 

RUPERT: Oh absolutely! 

MRS. ATWATER: He was thrilling in that thing with Bergman. What was it called now? 

MRS. ATWATER: The Something and The Something. No, that was the other one. 

MRS. ATWATER: This was just plain Something. You know, It was.. oh, sort of...you know 

RUPERT: It's right on the tip of my tongue.**

JANET: Oh mine, too! It was just plain Something, I'm sure. I adored it. 

JANET: And Bergman! 

MRS. ATWATER: Well... She's the Virgo type, Like all these, you know. 

JANET: Oh, I think she's lovely. 

RUPERT: (announcing) I once went to the movies, (pause) 

RUPERT: I saw Mary Pickford...***

MRS. ATWATER: Oh, I was so mad about her. Didn't you love her?  

RUPERT: Oh, I don't know, Virgo type rather, like all these, you know. 

MRS. ATWATER: Yes but...what did you see her in? 

RUPERT: I can't quite recall. The Something Something. 

RUPERT: Or just plain Something. I think. 

RUPERT: Or something like that, (pause) Or very like it, anyway. 

JANET: I don't believe you ever went. 

MRS. WILSON: (sotto voce to Janet). If I were you, I'd go easy on the paté, dear. Calories. 

She nudges Rupert. 

Brandon has moved away from the chest to round up the others.

BRANDON: Come on, Kenneth. Don't be polite...Phillip, would you mind helping Mrs. Atwater? 

PHILLIP: I'd be glad to. 

MRS. ATWATER: Thank you, dear boy. 

The guests have begun to help themselves. Mrs. Wilson passes champagne around. They settle about the room and begin eating.

 

Rope

 

Words by Arthur Laurents and Ben Hecht (Adaptation by Hume Cronyn from the play by Patrick Hamilton)

 

Pictures by William V. Skall and Joseph A. Valentine and Alfred Hitchcock

 

Rope is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Universal Home Video. 

* There may be two Hitchcock cameos in Rope. Arthur Laurents claims he's walking down the New York street after the credits. But, for sure, he's there when the city lights come on and there's a flashing red neon of Hitchcock's signature profile blinking on and off in the background!

 

** Yeah, that would be Notorious.

*** My Father used to tell this type of "I-don't-get-out-much" joke: "Last movie I saw was (pause) Birth of a Nation.