Rope

"Rope" 1948

"Rope" is a thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger.
The opening scene of this film shows two men which have both killed a man. We know nothing about this man, but the opening leaves the audience wondering what will happen next. Through this we learn that the whole film centres around these two characters who are presumably gay (although it is never confirmed in the film, because back then the topic of homosexuality wasn't talked about in day to day conversation) trying to cover up the death of the man they have murdered, trying to not get caught. The meguffin in this film is the party that the two men arrange; audiences aren't interested in this party, all they're interested in is if the men will get away with their crime.

Hitchcock explains that suspense is "essentially an emotional process" and can only work by giving the audience the information. However, he also says that if you tell the audience everything and give away the entire plot with no surprises or twists, it's wasteful because there is no emotion to it. Stating that mystery and suspense are "miles apart" also makes it sound like he pays very close attention to the difference between the two in order to make audiences portray certain scenes in movies correctly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xs111uH9ss

"Rope" is also adapted from Patrick Hamilton's 1929 play which was said to be based on the case of Leopald and Loeb, when they killed a teenage boy back in 1924.
The master of the murder in the film, which is Brandon, says that "Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them."

There is a scene in "Rope" in which the lady walks over to the chest where the body is. There is suspense here because it leaves the audience wondering if she is going to find the body, and when she is close to the chest, the audience feel the sense of fright because they know what is coming when the two men are discovered. However, when she turns away and doesn't look after all, they feel a sense of relief.
There is also a lot of dramatic irony in this film. This is when the audience know more about what is going on than some of the individual characters do in the film. For example, we know about the murder of this person, however, some characters do not, such as the people who attend the party. The party in itself is not what the audience are interested in, because it is just what is covering up the murder. We are most interested in whether or not the two are going to get away with this murder, or are they in fact going to get discovered before the movie ends?

Hitchcock wanted to film a "continuous play", and "Rope" pretends to be a one shot film, which came in 10 minute reels in 10 minute sequences. This seemed to work well as the aspect that this was originally a play was still there, for most of the film it is filmed in the same place with different characters coming in and out of the scene at different times.