Dish of the Day
Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Today’s “Dish of the Day” has a brief review of mine that was inspired by a post in one of the film related Facebook chat rooms. This includes the Cinema Cafe group (all readers are encouraged to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/902349343110685). As usual, my thoughts on the following motion picture are with the minority views.
Rope (1948)
Rope offers about as much excitement as just staring at one endlessly lying there, never used. Take out the amazing George Tomasini's editing seen in such films as Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo and The Birds. Then subtract Robert Burks' enthralling cinematography evident in the last three films mentioned including many of Alfred Hitchcock's other engaging triumphs like I Confess and Strangers on a Train. Lastly, confine the story to one obvious, singularly dull set-bound location along with characters all of whom appear to be mildly sedated. This was a concept driven film (supposedly no cuts although some disguised can easily be spotted by anyone still awake) that simply didn't jell, its experimental “one take” nature too prominently displayed. Even seen in a plush movie theatre, it felt suffocating. Void of mystery, in-depth character study and suspense, all of the joy and energy was purposely sucked out of this tedious affair that should have remained a stage production instead of being filmed like one. To be fair, there is a kind of intellectual jockeying that takes place which might be enough to hold some viewers’ attention but in this stagey, arch-talky environment, comes across as transparent, repetitive and inconsequential. Dramatically speaking, the story peaks right at the start, so there’s nowhere to go but downhill i.e. right up until its ending which even then is predictable and curiously treated as uneventful. See the extreme opposite kind of engrossing exploration of the same two characters in Richard Fleischer’s Compulsion (1959) instead.
(From left) Farley Granger, James Stewart, John Dall
All responses are not only welcomed but encouraged in the comments section below.
Hope to see you tomorrow.
A.G.