Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope", 1948
Original Lobby Card
Original vintage and quite rare lobby Card (11x14") for this brilliant Hitchcock classic. Excellent condition.
Alfred
Hitchcock directed so many brilliant movies that the best known ones
like 'Rear Window', 'Vertigo', 'Psycho' and 'The Birds' overshadow
equally worthy films like 'Shadow Of A Doubt', 'Lifeboat' - insert your
personal favorite here - and this one, 'Rope'. It was the first
Hitchcock movie to feature James Stewart and it is easily the most
underrated of the four movies they made together. I think Stewart was
brave for taking this part, which was much darker than the usual
characters associated with him, and it's difficult to imagine him being
able to play Scottie in 'Vertigo' without having done this movie first.
Stewart is excellent in the movie, but equally good are Farley Grainger
(who subsequently starred in Hitchcock's 'Strangers On A Train') and
John Dall as the thrill killers. Dall gives the best performance in the
movie. I'm surprised that after making this and the Noir cult classic
'Gun Crazy' he isn't better known. The technical "gimmick" of 'Rope' is
usually mentioned more than anything else about it (Hitchcock wanted one
long continuous take, which wasn't possible at the time, but
compromised by using several long ones, a very innovative approach at
the time), but there is a lot more to it than just that. Considering the
strict censorship of the period it was a daring look at homosexuality.
The word is never used at any time in the script but a sophisticated
audience would have no doubt what was really going on. I've only seen
about a third of n bHitchcock's output but every movie of his I watch or
rewatch makes me marvel at him all the more. The greatest and most
influential director of suspense movies was also one of the greatest
directors of ANY genre ever. 'Rope' deserves to be mentioned in any list
of his ten best movies. 65 years after it was originally released it is
as fascinating and entertaining as ever. Highly recommended!