Rope
Part of the Avalon’s Hitchcock/Truffaut Film Festival, May 5-7
Friday, May 6 at 5:45pm
Rope is one of the most ambitious technical experiments ever attempted by a commercial film director. Shot to look like one continuous take, Hitchcock’s camerawork, which appeared almost seamless onscreen, required a complicated dance of technical wizardry behind the scenes. The set was designed with rollers and breakaway walls to accommodate the moving camera, and floors of the sound stage were specially built with soundproofing and felt-lined carpeting to prevent any creaking. Special care was also taken on the set’s New York City skyline seen outside the through the window, which transitioned from sunset to night through the course of the film. Six thousand flashing miniature lights, 200 miniature neon signs, 26,000 feet of wire, 150 transformers, and 126,000 watts of electricity were controlled by an electrician operating 47 different switches. Though underappreciated at the time, Rope’s legacy is seen in films like 2015 Oscar Best Picture Birdman, which attempted a similar real-time continuous take conceit.
Just before hosting a dinner party, Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) and Brandon Shaw (John Dall) strangle a mutual friend to death with a piece of rope, purely as a Nietzsche-inspired philosophical exercise. Hiding the body in a chest upon which they then arrange a buffet dinner, the pair welcome their guests, including the victim’s oblivious fiancée (Joan Chandler) and the college professor (James Stewart) whose lectures inadvertently inspired the killing. 1948.
The Avalon is presenting film classics from directors Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut before the theater’s spring benefit event “The Genius of Hitchcock,” on Sunday, May 8. Learn more about the event & buy tickets.
80Rated NR
in English