Confined Boundaries in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope Daniel Kekes-Szabo College

Hitchcock’s Rope was based on a 1929 play by Patrick Hamilton, which got its inspiration from the real-life murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks in 1924 by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. Rope was produced by Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein as their first Transatlantic Pictures production. The endeavor by Hitchcock to not only accurately adapt the story from the play but also film it in the manner a play would be seen was venturesome and brave. In order to represent the mood and physical boundaries of a stage, Hitchcock shot the entire film in a confined area of an apartment. This was Hitchcock’s second film with “confined boundaries,” after Lifeboat.

Hitchcock opted to shoot the film in a continuous take, but because film could only hold 10 minutes of footage at a time, he had to hide any visible cuts by moving behind objects or actors. This unique method of shooting was one of Hitchcock’s most daring attempts at telling a story, and the fluid motion of the camera offered a more direct connection to the viewer. Hitchcock was extremely meticulous about the set of Rope and its appearance. Because it was a simple set and not an actual apartment, Hitchcock had a very elaborate and detailed background...