Thoughts on Rope (1948)

Last night I watched Hitchcock’s Rope (1948) and, not done with it yet, this morning I listened to the 1983 BBC radio version of the original 1929 play. The differences between the two are fascinating.

They both follow the same basic plot, opening on the murder of a young man by two of his friends, who then hide the body in a chest in their living room, waiting until after a party they’re throwing to dump the body in a lake. The story takes place more or less in real time: we follow them throughout the party, which includes both the victim’s father and a kindred spirit of theirs, Rupert Cadell. One of the murderers is unrepentant, the other coming undone with fear and guilt.

As much as anything else, it’s an exercise in how different two works can be while sharing identical plots and a good chunk of dialogue.

 

( Spoilers for Rope, I suppose )