This is a plot summary of Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 crime drama 'Rope'.
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Rope is a 1948 crime noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton and adapted by actor and writer Hume Cronyn and Arthur Laurents. The film is based on the 1928 murder of 14 year old Bobby Franks by teenagers Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, both from a wealthy neighborhood called Kenwood situated on Lake Michigan in Chicago’s South Side. The subsequent trial for both men was labeled “The Trial of the Century” at the time and the play and film based on the incident contains some striking parallels. For 1, Leopold and Loeb both came from wealthy families, possessed superior IQs, and shared a fascination in Friedrich Nietzsche’s idea of Übermensch— or Superman —-who are transcendent individuals, possessing extraordinary and unusual capabilities, whose superior intellects allows them to rise above the laws and rules that restricts the unimportant, average populace (Wikipedia). Another parallel between the actual incident and the film are both victim’s passion for tennis. To prove their immunity to the consequences ordinary men are subjected to, Leopold and Loeb committed a series of small crimes at the school they attended (The University of Chicago), crimes that, to their disappointment, received very little attention. For this reason, they planned and executed the murder of Bobby Franks to validate their belief that they were superior individuals.
Rope was Hitchcock’s 2nd “limited setting” film with the 1st being 1944’s “Lifeboat.” Rope was also Hitchcock’s 1st film shot in Technicolor. But the film is best known for being shot as a stage play in, seemingly, 1 continuous shot; actually, the film is composed of 10 takes of up to 10 minutes each that were seamed together by zooming the shots on walls and characters’ backs to hide the cuts. Another unique element in Rope is the cityscape of the large window which was the largest background cyclorama every used on a sound stage at that time (Wikipedia) that used the slow transitioning from day to night as symbolic references to the story’s 3 themes: shame, fear, and vanity. This summary I’ve provided contains the main plot points in the movie.
Rope opens with Phillip (Farley Granger)and Brandon (John Dall) strangling David Bentley (Dick Hogan), a fellow college student and after killing this student they put him in a chest and close the lid. Phillip sits on the chest, stunned and breathless. Brandon turns on a lamp but Phillip tells him to turn it off which he does, lighting a cigarette and drawing the blinds to let the sunlight in. Brandon keeps the glass David drank from as a souvenir.
Brandon to Phillip: “the power to kill can be just a satisfying as the power to create.”
Phillip is nervous, paranoid, and jumpy. They plan to put him in the lake later when the sun goes down. Brandon leaves the chest unlocked. Phillip asks Brandon for permission to get a drink and Brandon consents, uncorking a bottle of champagne for himself to celebrate. David is inferior and they have committed the perfect murder by killing because murder is the exclusive right of superior individuals:
Phillip asks Brandon how he felt killing David and Brandon says he feels exhilarated. Phillip asks Brandon why they are throwing a party and inviting David’s parents and Brandon says that the party is the signature of an artist. Then they go to the next room and move everything from the dining room table to the chest containing David’s body.
The Maid who Brandon sent shopping this morning rings to let them know that she is on her way up to the apartment giving them enough time to move the books that were on the chest to the dining room table; the books are for David’s father who collects books. Leaning down to pick up the books, Phillip sees a piece of the rope he strangled David with hanging out of the chest. Brandon snatches it and puts it in his pocket. He then scolds Phillip for worrying so much. Mrs. Wilson enters the apartment and is disappointed when she sees the dining room table and everything moved off of it to the chest in the next room. Brandon has the rope in his hand, flagrantly displaying it with complete disregard for how the rope had been used moments earlier. Phillip looks at the rope nervously.
Brandon tells Phillip that he has invited Rupert Cadel (James Stewart), their prep school housemaster, to the party. Brandon is proud of killing David and believes that Rupert is smart enough to figure out what happened to David. The doorbell rings and Brandon smiles at Phillip: “And now, the fun begins!” He answers the door and Kenneth Lawrence (Douglas Dick), and underclassman from their college, walks in looking around the empty apartment with a surprised look on his face. It is getting darker outside.
Mrs. Wilson brings in a bottle of champagne and Brandon, smiling, tells Kenneth that Janet Walker (Joan Chandler) is coming to the party. Kenneth and David were best friends before she dumped Kenneth to be with David; they are currently engaged. When she arrives and sees Kenneth she smiles politely and pulls Brandon aside to scolds him for inviting Kenneth to the party.
David’s father, Mr. Kentley (Sir Cedric Hardwick), and Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier) arrive. She mistakes Kenneth for David and at the sound of David’s name Phillip crushes a glass and cuts his hand. Mr. Kentley is concerned about David’s absence. Brandon pours a drink and asks Kenneth to take it to Janet who is in the bedroom on the phone with David’s mother who has a cold and could not come to the party. Mrs.Atwater reads the lines in Phillips’ hands: “These hands will bring you great fame,” she predicts. Phillip plays the piano. It is darker outside.
Rupert is the last to arrive and he asks Brando why they’re drinking champagne. Brandon says to Rupert that the champagne’s for Mr. Kentley. Rupert notices that Brandon’s stuttering which is something he does when he is excited. Janet wonders when David will show up. Rupert notices that they are eating off of chest. Mr. Kentley apologizes for David being late and they start dinner with chicken as the main course. Brandon’s mother has a farm and he tells everyone about the time that Phillip broke the necks of 3 chickens there. One of the chickens rose from the dead like “Lazarus.” This story embarrasses Phillip and he denies it.
Rupert cracks a joke to lighten things up: “Murder would solve many problems,” he says jokingly to Mrs. Atwater. “Murder should be an art and reserved for superior individuals. There should be a strangulation day.” This joke upsets Mr. Kentley.
Mr. Kentley: “Who is to decide who is inferior?”
Brandon answers this question: He, Phillip, and maybe Rupert would decide based on their superiority. Brandon then goes on a rant. Mr. Kentley stands up and everyone files out of the room leaving Janet and Kenneth alone.
They talk and the truth comes out that he, and not Janet, ended their relationship. Something occurs to him. Earlier, Brandon said that he’d have a crack at Janet as though he knew that David wasn’t showing up.
Phillip is paranoid and he and Brandon bicker. Rupert’s watches them with interest. Mrs. Wilson tells Rupert that Phillip and Brandon have acted strange all day. Brandon usually lets her prepare everything her way but when she went out to shop he told her to take all day. Then, when she got back from shopping, the men were bickering. They had moved everything from the dining room table to the chest.
Phillip sees Mrs. Wilson and Rupert talking and to hide his nervousness he sits down to play the piano. There’s a small lamp on the piano and when Rupert turns it on, Phillip asks him to turn it off. Rupert asks Phillip what’s going on. Phillip strikes the wrong key.
Rupert gives Phillip a drink to calm him down. Rupert asks Phillip about David. Phillip strikes the wrong key again. Rupert questions Phillip about the chickens he strangled on the farm. Brandon enters the room with a stack of books tied with the rope they killed David with. While everyone speculates on David’s whereabouts, Mrs. Wilson clears everything off the chest containing his body.Mrs. Wilson raises the lid on the chest but Brandon shuts it; Rupert fixes his attention on the chest.
Mrs. Kentley calls to see if David made it to the party. She worries that her son may have been in an accident. Mr. Kentley leaves. Phillip is coming apart at the seams and Rupert watches him.
Brandon gives Mr. Kentley the books and the rope they killed his son with. Mrs. Wilson gives Rupert his hat but it is too big. David’s initials are inside the hat. Rupert leaves.
The sun is down and the window is dark. Phillip is upset that Brandon told everyone about the chickens he killed; Brandon makes up and promises to take Brandon on a vacation.
Mrs. Wilson leaves and the phone rings: it’s Rupert coming up for his cigarette case. Phillip panics and Brandon slaps him. Rupert enters the apartment looking around and walking by the chest. He asks for a drink and lights a cigarette.
He wonders about David’s whereabouts (they killed him in broad daylight: the privilege of the intellectually superior class) and tells them that Janet believes that they kidnapped David. Brandon asks Rupert how he would have killed David. Rupert creates a scenario where they kill David and hide him until they can dispose of him at night without being seen. Brandon puts his hand in his pocket and Rupert tells him that he knows he has a gun. Rupert pulls the rope out of pocket that Phillip strangled David with.
Phillip Panics: “He’s got it!” he says.
Phillip takes the gun Brandon laid on the piano and points it at Rupert who wrestles it away. He pushes the book off the chest and opens it to see David’s body. Brandon explains why they killed David and reminds Rupert of the discussion they had earlier about murder being a privilege for superior individuals. He and Phillip had only done what Rupert taught them. Rupert condemns Brandon, then opens the window and fires 3 shots. Someone calls the police. Sirens approach. The end.
