Hitchcock, brilliant as always, continues to amaze So far, of all the Hitchcock movies I have seen, there is only one I felt was a legitimately 'bad' movie, and that was Spellbound. He was a genius in not only the plots of his films, but also the brilliant cinematography. I plan on going into film as a director/writer, and one of the thoughts I had a while back was that it would be pretty cool to shoot an entire movie in one shot. What gave me that idea was hearing Spielberg talk about how he shot one of his Jaws scenes by having people pass in front of the camera instead of cutting closer to Roy Sheider. Well, as I watched Rope I realized that, "Oh my gosh, he's doing it!" The brilliance of it was that it was so subtle you almost didn't notice, at least, I almost didn't, he crafted the shots so well that you felt like the scene was cutting to different places even when it wasn't, and all this took place inside on apartment!
Now, for my praise of the story itself, and be warned, in praising it important details will be given away, at least, important to anyone who knows zilch about the movie.
Leave it to Hitchcock to analyze the intellectual side of murder, what might compel someone to commit the seemingly senseless murders we hear about so often. Jimmy Stewart, as a prep-school teacher, has taught his students superiorism, that all people are not equal and, if the 'elite' feel it, everything, including murder, should be allowed them. Well, two of his students take his teachings to the logical extreme and murder a fellow classmate, simply for the intellectual thrills of it. Then, as a finishing touch to their work, they throw a party and serve the food on the chest where the dead man is. Unfortunately, they make one mistake, inviting their old teacher who, as the night goes on, begins to suspect. (Spoilers ahead) As he realizes what they've done, Jimmy Stewart pressures the weaker of the two students who finally begins to break. In the climax of the film, where the professor returns to the apartment after everyone's left, their two views, that the students think to be the same, come head to head, and Jimmy Stewart is faced with the brutal mistakes he himself has taught.