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Rope

Play trailer Poster for Rope PG Released Aug 24, 1948 1h 20m Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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93% Tomatometer 56 Reviews 90% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
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.
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Rope

Rope

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Critics Consensus

As formally audacious as it is narratively brilliant, Rope connects a powerful ensemble in service of a darkly satisfying crime thriller from a master of the genre.

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Critics Reviews

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Keith Uhlich (All (Parentheses)) Hitchcock examines his and his audience’s participatory roles in a centuries-old circuit of art production and reception. —Guest post by Michael Joshua Rowin Jun 10, 2022 Full Review TIME Staff TIME Magazine In photographing the action, Director Hitchcock brought off a tour de force. Feb 9, 2019 Full Review David Parkinson Empire Magazine The trickery is still distracting, but there are hints in this 1948 film of the perversity that will yield Psycho, Strangers On A Train, Vertigo and Rear Window, so it's a must for Hitch collectors. Rated: 4/5 Feb 9, 2019 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review This lesser-celebrated feature by the Master of Suspense remains one of his most fascinating pictures because it aligns with his thematic interests yet deviates from his usual formal methods. Rated: 3/4 Aug 31, 2024 Full Review Diana Tuova Spotlight on Film It grips the audience from the very beginning, and it radiates the same morbid cleverness that would define Hitchcock’s later films. Rated: 4.5/5 Aug 4, 2024 Full Review Wesley Lovell Cinema Sight The film’s biggest strength is in its tantalizing plot. “Rope” is a very good movie that suffers only from its somewhat false sense of editing, but overall benefits from Hitchcock’s masterful direction. Rated: 3/4 Oct 4, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

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Lisa The movie is an oldie but goodie! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/12/24 Full Review Austin B An absolute masterpiece that still holds up 3/4s of a century later Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/06/25 Full Review Slice O Two shots. Amazing . Life Boat is the next movie for anyone who enjoys a theatrical experience within a movie Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/14/25 Full Review Douglas G No film cuts obviously impacted how Hitchcock filmed this movie, but it has so much going for it. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/13/25 Full Review Jonathan O Powerful whodunnit suspense thriller with really outstanding performance and really great storytelling about killing someone to be God and mighty and between right and wrong and Hitchcock is really a master of suspense. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/07/25 Full Review Insomniac X Hitchcock transposes Patrick Hamilton's stage play to screen in this masterfully arranged sequence of long takes and tracking shots. Rope provides a precursor to the formula used in "Columbo," in which a carefully planned murder witnessed by the audience is slowly unraveled by a dogged interlocutor. The audience knows that this story can end only one way, but the journey there is an effectively tense and chilling one. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/26/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Rope

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Cast & Crew

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Alfred Hitchcock

Director

James Stewart

Rupert Cadell

John Dall

Brandon Shaw

Farley Granger

Phillip Morgan

Joan Chandler

Janet Walker

Cedric Hardwicke

Mr. Kentley (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)

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Rope

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Movie Info

Synopsis 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.
Director
Alfred Hitchcock
Producer
Sidney Bernstein, Alfred Hitchcock
Screenwriter
Patrick Hamilton, Hume Cronyn, Arthur Laurents, Ben Hecht
Distributor
Warner Bros., MCA/Universal Pictures [us], Universal Home Entertainment
Production Co
Warner Brothers, Universal Films
Rating
PG
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 24, 1948, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 19, 2016
Runtime
1h 20m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm, Flat (1.37:1)
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