Just got done watching Rope. Another good suspense film.
The interesting thing I've noticed is the variety in Hitchcock's style as compared to say M Night Shamaylan (work with me here!). In both Rope and Dial M, the viewer is shown the "twist" or set up within the first few minutes of the film, and the rest of the film builds on it until the climax. This is in stark contrast to M Night's films, in which the "twist" or set up is always revealed last, with everything else slowly building up to it. I find this interesting because despite the set up being revealed so early, I found this process to be far more suspenseful.
In Rope's case the film's central event (a "perfect" murder) occurs in the first five minutes. While the pacing is somewhat uneven after this event, it slowly works itself out throughout the rest of the film; actually it really takes off once an unusually dark, sarcastic Jimmy Stewart arrives on screen. This is definitely one of my favorite Stewart roles, but then again I've never seen a movie where he wasn't amazing.
Like Dial M, Rope features some rather theatrical writing. In some cases it seems to go a bit too far; it becomes clear rear people don't talk like this, even the intellectual group portrayed. Yet the writing it more than witty enough to compensate for my borderline complaints.
To me the film centers around arrogance, and the pit falls of intellectualism. There is certainly nothing wrong with being intellectual, but it has its limits - and can be pushed into extremes that resemble doctrines of supremacy. In this case, the idea that those of so called "superior" intellect are not bound to the same moral boundaries of regular individuals, and therefore are the only ones who can justify the "art" of murder.
