Typically, when a movie is based on a play, the director's influence is most strongly felt in the decisions to “open up” the action by expanding the setting, so that the film doesn’t suffer from the claustrophobic mood of occurring in just one or very limited settings. In Rope, however, Alfred Hitchcock bucks convention by essentially heightening the theatrical nature of the source material, limiting the action to one self-contained setting, and seeking to make the film unfold as one long continuous take. The result was Rope, which in many ways feels like watching a live stage performance. While the film was met with critical ambivalence by many, and even Hitchcock labeled it unsuccessful, its many innovations and experimental storytelling style has made it a unique Hitchcockian classic, fascinating filmmakers and film lovers alike.
The problem Hitchcock faced was that 35mm film cameras could only shoot about 18 minutes before another roll of film had to be switched in. As a result, Rope is composed of several individual scenes lasting between 5 and 10 minutes or so, scenes which are unedited and in which the camera and the actors move freely to create a continuous unbroken shot. The illusion of stringing together these scenes is admittedly awkward; in order to achieve continuity without doing a full cut, the camera moves towards the jacket or back of a character or object until the screen goes black. The sound continues over the black screen for a moment, and then the camera pans away to transition into the next scene. With the technology we have today to give the illusion of a continuous shot, Hitchcock’s methods look awkward to the contemporary eye, but the film still achieves the momentum that he sought to create.
Hitchcock's touch can be felt not just in the illusion of continuity in the film, but also in the movement of the camera and the settings and objects that Hitchcock chooses to rest upon. For instance, there is an excruciatingly tense shot of the housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson, removing food and others objects from the cabinet in which the corpse is being kept. As a conversation between the party guests takes place nearby, Mrs. Wilson prepares to put the books back inside the chest. While the main action—the discussion between the characters—is not shown, the audience is left to fret over what seems like Mrs. Wilson's inevitable discovery of David's body. Similarly, the uncomfortably wordless sequence near the end, after Cadell has just shot the gun out the window and the trio waits for the police, is a masterpiece of pantomime. While the film was perhaps only a partially-successful experiment, Hitchcock's ingenious style, built to increase suspense and theatricality, is undeniable, and his methods are not just a mere gimmick, but an essential component of the narrative.
