Hitchcock Retrospective – Rope Review

Hey, Tara Strong here, and you're listening to

the GeekCast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to episode 207 of The Cinema Geeks. I am one

of your Cinema Geeks optimists, Solo, and joining

me, as usual, is the comic concierge, Dan. How

are you doing? Good, good. How about yourself?

Doing wonderful ready to tackle some more Alfred

Hitchcock as we are getting our our Way through

this Alfred Hitchcock retrospective. We're on

our third film now So I feel like we're just

like getting into the weeds now like first couple

out of the way three out of ten like we're in

it now, so What are you what were your thoughts

for everybody? That's not let me I'm gonna edit

that out So the third film that we are covering

as we mentioned in our last episode is going

to be the 1948 American psychological crime thriller,

Rope. So Dan, what was your experience? I know

you said it on last episode, but those that didn't

tune into that one, what's your experience with

Rope before you watched it this time? So this

was my first time watching this. I thought maybe

I've seen it before, but going through it, I

clearly have not said to remember anything. So

it was a brand new watch for me. It's my first

time watch as well. This is based on an 1829

play of the same title, which is possibly inspired

by real -life events this is starring the likes

of Jimmy Stewart John doll Farley Granger Joan

Chandler Douglas dick a few other people Jimmy

Jimmy Stewart's obviously probably one of them

the main stars that people will recognize from

this one and This is Kind of a noir type film

here where we get introduced to An act right

off the bat and then the rest of it is somewhat

supposed to be I guess suspenseful as to How

the rest of the events are going to transpire?

It's also known for Its experimental techniques,

I guess from a filming standpoint. It's supposedly

I guess as best they can to try to be done in

real time. So the amount of time that you spend

with them on the movie is about Pretty close

to the amount of time that is actually taking

place over the course of the movie and then there's

also the fact that it's Supposedly like I know

it's I think it's 10, but they say it's kind

of like four Long sequences where you're following

the camera around the rooms and things of that

nature. So it's got some Techniques that had

never been done before on this type of stage.

So what was your first impression of rope after

seeing it? Was it just think is yeah, like you

said it like it opens up on a murder it basically

hear a scream and Then just like wait what just

happened because it's like did that and then

trying to like determine What exactly was the

motivation there and it was murder for the sake

of murder like that? You know, they just wanted

the excitement of it, which was not what I expected

at all. I'm like, oh wow, this is Pretty macabre.

This is pretty sadistic in a way. Like these

people just, you know, it's the perfect crime.

It's interesting. Like it wasn't what I was expecting.

Like you can definitely tell this is a play because

I think this probably would work really well

on stage because as you mentioned, it's done

in real time. It's a lot of like just straight

dialogue. I do think Hitchcock, as you mentioned,

does his best with Using the camera to try to

go around and like make it feel like you're not

just looking at a stage that you're part of the

room To give you an understanding of like the

landscape of everything which is important but

I was intrigued by it, but I guess Compared to

what we went before I was I had trouble connecting

it connecting with it compared to what we Previously

watched I think potentially because I was so

caught up with the machinations the creation

of it Within itself. I think it's a well made,

but in a way I feel like the you mentioned like

it's means it feels like it's done or the trick

here. It's like one continuous shot or Clearly

clearly not that and I think every time that

would happen because you would have someone walk

by the camera it would zoom in and then zoom

out and like, you know continue and clearly that

was where a cut was and I think that every time

that happened and kind of took me out a little

bit I did find it. So I was impressed with the

The like the craftsmanship of the movie, but

I wasn't as like emotionally invested in this

or like the plight of what was on Occurring I

didn't like I felt like for something that should

be super thrilling. I didn't have that tension.

I thought I might so Interesting I I'm kind of

intrigued on your take as well because I didn't

know if we were gonna line up together or if

we were gonna be at odds on this one and by at

odds, I mean just like having different takes

on it. And this was one that I've always wanted

to watch. This has always been on one of my top

films on my bucket list of blind spots that I

need to watch. I don't know why, but I was always

wanting to watch this one. And then we started

with The 39 Steps and Notorious. And I was like,

oh, this is going to be a great ride. This is

going to be a Tarantino retrospective where just

every film is just getting knocked out of the

park or increasingly better and better. And so

perhaps I got my anticipation too high or my

hopes too high or I don't know what it was, but

this film did not work for me in a lot of ways,

I guess. I do agree with you that it does 100

% come off as something that was based on a play.

If you ever go to the live theater and you're

seeing anything in the murder mystery slash suspense

genre, It plays just like this. It seems like

like you can see this type of thing where we're

all in like the same room or like couple rooms

where it's a very limited cast, you know, all

that kind of stuff. Like you can definitely tell

you're dealing with that type of thing. And I

do think, you know, I guess there is some props

to give because I guess they had like a lot of

the walls and different things were like on rolling

structures so that as they move from one room

to another, they could pull back a wall so the

cameras could get through with no interruption.

And then the camera would You know go back and

the wall would come back. So there was a lot

of stuff going on from that and I guess you know

from a What I was reading is from a carrot like

the actor standpoint There was a lot of choreography

that had to happen to make this all work whether

it be avoiding stepping on chords or you know

like I said walls changing places and you got

to be aware of that or Trying to make sure sense

stuff is moving back and forth that when the

camera is coming back that it's all how it was

before And I don't know if that like somehow

translates into the performances or it just translates

into the overall effect of the movie. But I feel

like it took for me it like you're saying it

took me out of the movie time and time again

to where I just wasn't invested like the what

I really was not anticipating and enjoyed on

the thirty nine steps notorious was that they

both had me from go like they hooked me like

within the first Say five maybe ten minutes like

I think the first five minutes of both of those

films I was like I'm ready for this like I'm

into this I'm watching the whole thing and this

one definitely did not do that like we start

with obviously like you say like there's a murder

immediately and it was kind of like I don't know

it took me a back a little bit about how they

were setting the stage for this and So I wasn't

invested right away and I found myself wanting

to be and trying to be and they just never did

like throughout the entire I think this is like

what an hour and 20 minutes like I never got

hooked to the entire time And I will dig into

a little bit of more of like a why that may be

as well before I go back to you though I wanted

to bring up the fact that it seems I Guess that

both of us are a little bit more in line with

like the contemporary reviews that happened when

this movie came out Which is not usually the

case always like sometimes stuff gets reviewed

in the moment and then over time like completely

changed But the contemporary reviews were not

necessarily overwhelmingly positive for this

film even some of the people involved with this

film Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart both in some

ways have alluded to the fact that they weren't

huge fans of this film and then it seems though

like as time has passed it's gotten this like

really overwhelmingly positive I guess critique

because it's got like a 90 395 percent on Rotten

Tomatoes and I was looking at like letterbox

at to like a lot of the people in our film circles

or you know film Twitter or whatever, you know

people we've met and along the way when we've

done this podcast and they're over almost overwhelmingly

positive and I'm trying to figure out like what

I missed or like why it doesn't work for me and

we'll get into that as we kind of continue through

this discussion, but What's your take on kind

of like the the reception that this film had

originally, and then how it's evolved over time.

Yeah, I guess after looking at like its contemporary

reviews, I think a lot of people took issue with

the fact that, you know, it was people almost

celebrating murder. Like these main characters,

their drive is like they wanted to commit the

ultimate murder. And I think that turned some

people away because I'd also think at that time

Hitchcock was never really a huge Favorite for

a lot of critics because he dealt with a lot

of like yeah taboo subjects so and this was dealing

with that to an nth degree plus As mentioned

it it was different because it did feel like

a play It was a lot of and he moves the camera

around a lot and I think for a lot of people

that was maybe too much I think on a technical

level Like I said, it's, it's well made and it's

even like the, the map they use for like, cause

you know, it's like an apartment and you see

the background of New York city or I believe

it's New York city. Um, like, like in the use

of lighting, especially near like the, the, the

climax of the film. Oh, great. I think that like,

that's all well done. So, and I think. that probably

is something that a lot of people appreciate

and I even I do like I appreciate that aspect

of it I guess like for me it just I struggled

with like you said connecting with anything that

was here I It was this obviously cat -and -mouse

game which they call out and I guess I didn't

really care if the mouse caught the cat because

that's what my problem was Yeah, yeah, so it's

like, you know, I just want them all to fail

Not that like like ability isn't like a requirement,

but I think I don't know it almost felt like

I Wanted to say anti -intellectual, but it felt

like certainly Hitchcock obviously this isn't

his original creation But it felt like it was

almost It didn't seem like a critique of the

that like those intellectual, you know those

college circles those type of individuals who

have this kind of high mighty type of um or about

them, but in reality like they they lack kind

of the basic morality of humanity because like

they they don't see people as equals kind of

showing that the economy of that I think Um again

like those pieces I did it just like I don't

know. I just like you said it's only 120 minutes

It doesn't waste any time but I at the end of

the day. I was just like, I don't know what i'm

supposed to beyond just the Watching it all take

place. Yeah, it was just events happening I wasn't

I didn't feel like a story was being told per

se and and i've Long time been a fan of like

the theater and i've been involved and i've gone

like i've had different you know, subscriptions

like annual, I don't know, season ticket holder

or whatever to like different things. So I've

seen a number of these on the on the stage. And

I think what always has worked for me in those

types of thriller suspense. In a way, mystery

plays is a couple of different things. Number

one is. That the thrilling aspect or the suspense

aspect or the mystery aspect like I was vested

in as far as like I cared how it. how it resolved

itself. Number one, and I didn't hear like I

didn't care if they were caught or not caught

in this at all. Like I was never vested in that.

And then I think the other thing that a lot of

those films do or plays do well is in the journey

of going through that suspense. A lot of them

go one way or the other. One way they they tend

to go is a comedic route where there's lots of

funny aspects as we make our way through that.

And the other side of that coin is they have

these intellectual or thought provoking, provocative

conversations, discussions that make you think

with clever dialogue, clever thought processes

and things like that. And for me, this film did

neither of those things. So not only am I not

caring about the resolution of the suspense,

but I'm not necessarily entertained in the journey

as we go from one to the other. And like half

of me thinks like. I would have rather them started

talking about the fact that they had killed their

classmate. Or talking about the idea of it without

showing us that they had actually done it. And

like building in suspense on did they really

do this? Is he really in this scene the entire

time? Like maybe something like that where I

don't know that it's already happened. Might

have helped. But I don't know like from a character

standpoint, like the main two guys, which is

brand their characters names are Brandon and

Philip. I found neither one of them. Likeable,

I didn't find either one of them. Somebody that

drew me in that I cared about like obviously

Brandon comes across as he's supposed to. I get

it, but he comes across as kind of a despicable

human being, right? And. Phillips not quite as

bad but like neither one of them has me like

they're not like commanding a commanding presence

on the stage or in the film in this standpoint.

That's like There's no Like we just watched a

movie with Cary Grant Like they don't have that,

you know what I mean? And I'm not saying that

it was intended for them to have that obviously

they have Jimmy Stewart playing a different character

and that's kind of where they were going for

that but like these other films that we talked

about 39 steps notorious like There was a lot

of side characters, especially in 39 steps a

lot of side characters that I cared about or

that were entertaining or funny or that I enjoyed

I don't care about the dad in this one I don't

care about the sister -in -law, which to me is

just weird that that's The other person involved

in here um, and I didn't care about this for

some of classmates Like the the janet character

somewhat works for me Like I found her intriguing

and the fact that she's dated a couple of these

guys and she comes across a little bit more magnetic

a little bit more interesting at least to me

and maybe mrs wilson who I guess is Made I don't

know if it's 100 defined but she's basically

taking care of the house and and fixing the dinner

and stuff like that like Those two females I

think did more for me than any of the other characters

in this film Did any of the characters really

work for you? I'll say I I actually I did like

the performance of like the of My goodness, I

can't think of Brandon yeah, Philip and Brandon

I thought like like Philip was like in the sense

of like he was a good villain like I thought

he did He was smore me. He like he the way he

reveled like in what was happening. Like he was

he was good at you can like, you know Twisting

the knife like he felt like it's gonna be a weird

comparison, but like one of those Belli TV show

characters were like they're they clearly brought

on because they know how to create drama and

he Definitely felt like that type of personality

right in that sense of his ability to pray drama

or like, you know, I Don't know like his if I'm

a director though, like I don't know like if

I watch this film I don't know if I'm ever calling

These two guys as agent and like casting them

in my film. Maybe I'm being harsh I don't know.

I I didn't have an issue with their performance

I thought their performances were fine. Like

I thought you know a little you know a little

bit Brandon was a little baby a little bit much

like his and a little bit also inconsistent and

I felt at times where it was very kid, you know

when you get to the end and it It became a bit

redundant. I think the last act which is really

maybe what soured me because we have this climax

with account mouse game It seems like he basically

admits that they killed him But then they also

step back and say like, you know Just trying

to really like calls bluff or not. And it just

it felt like we were that last ten minutes just

Kind of circling the drain in a way where I was

like I just get to it like I get like you're

Like the back and forth it just felt like, you

know It wasn't it's more annoying than like intense

which was probably like it again I like I liked

it on a technical level but in the sense of Like

the suspense that wasn't there maybe because

we're coming back coming going off to movies

which were super suspenseful compared to right

but I felt here but yeah, I I do feel like the

parents, the one mom who was really in the horoscopes

and things like that. But it's not even the mom.

Isn't it introduced as she's the aunt? She's

the sister -in -law or something like that. I'm

like, what are we doing here? I was trying to

figure out the dynamic, like you said with...

With miss mrs. Wilson. I first I thought the

place was her place, which really right like

so that's that I mean, that's not Important,

but I just felt like wait, it's his look. I wasn't

sure who was who um, but it kind of makes sense

through the end Uh, but like I guess like in

the sense of the characters Like I didn't think

they were badly performed. I just felt that I

got it like it just felt like a lot of like it

felt even though this is like 80 minutes it was

a lot of repetition a lot of just like going

through the same and you know sometimes it's

probably it's probably not as much the actors

faults either i think like i don't think they're

given a lot of like great stuff to chew on you

know like even even jimmy stewart who's amazing

i this isn't one of his best roles right like

this is like His character confused me the most

out of all of them like because there's a conversation

that's surrounding murder and like and basically

how they're kind of both for in a way but then

at the end he has this like aha moment where

you know he's like well this isn't really what

I was and it felt very to me it didn't ring true

because I It seems like like oh you're twisting

my words and i'm like not really They kind of

they kind of just they didn't really twist the

words. They kind of just did what you said That's

exactly what you said. So it felt in a way like

this character is supposed to have like he's

supposed to be the The hero per se like oh look

at him like he's putting them in their place

But like he's kind of just as he seems like he's

more upset that they did it and he did it like

Right, right. Like that's what like felt like

his character felt like That conversation around

murder is where it started Souring me a bit because

it just like wait why like what it felt very

What they were trying to say and I like it. That's

where I thought like is this Hitchcock just basically

kind of cask and dispersions against like The

the intellectual elite or intellectual early,

you know that type of yeah Many of which tend

to look down on his work. So I thought maybe

that was part of it. Also, there's definitely

like We're definitely saying that Philip and

Brandon are gay, right? Without saying it, like

that seems like very. Yeah, I read into that

a little bit. The play, it's blatant in the play

that it's based on. It's blatant. And it's also

in the play, Jimmy Stewart's character is older

and has had a relationship with one of the boys

at some point. Like, and it's definitely much

more like out there. I think they were. Because

this is 1948, I think they were. Not. Yeah, they're

not saying it, but they're not saying it. It's

certainly, it's certainly coded that way. Cause

you know, just in the performance, like, you

know, they're growing up, it definitely felt,

you know, as close as you can get to you for

that time, which also kind of just maybe soured

me a bit. Cause it's almost like, is this what

you're saying? Like, you know, people, you know,

gay people are like, I don't know. Like, I don't

know if that's taking it too far, but it felt,

I don't know. That might be. Yeah, I also feel

like they had opportunities there like because

there's so much dialogue like as you you brought

up like this whole conversation about murder

and Like I was when that starts like that whole

sequence starts. I'm like, oh we're about to

get some of this like more clever provocative

like a conversation where at first you think

you're gonna be Like easily on one side and like

through the conversation you're starting to see

like both sides type like that type of like Discourse

where you're like, oh wait a second like he had

he makes a couple good points, but like it didn't

do that It was just like just like it's good

to murder folks. And I'm like, I can't I can't

go there. I'm sorry I don't know like that was

a little tough for me as well It's a movie that's

built on dialogue. That's you know, that's where

you know, that's the car you're all in one room

It's all about conversation and I think in order

to do that, you need to have really strong. Yeah

Activating conversation and performances behind

it and I thought like we didn't really like the

performance is like I said weren't bad I thought

at times they had moments but nothing up like,

you know, nothing about any of the characters

here I felt super compelled by yeah or like the

diet like any dialogue sequences where I felt

were even like when we got to The you know where

we're eventually getting to like this cat -mouse

game I didn't feel like there was much of a cat

-mouse game. It was just like oh he found the

hat You know and like that was that kind of clued

him in and like, you know, you see the gears,

you know, the little clue is adding up but I

thought even it The middle section for the like

the majority of that dinner You know, I felt

like it should have been more suspenseful than

it was like I didn't ever feel Any sense of danger

or any sense of like they're close to like there's

a body in the room Should be yeah, it should

be built in right there. Like I don't yeah, so

it just I get maybe like you said maybe it was

just because it I've heard like you like you

have heard so much great things people loving

this movie and I'm which is great. I mean I mean

Maybe if I saw it again, I would enjoy it more

I don't know and like I said, I think technically

like the ability to use location and the construction

of that location all great, but I I just felt

like I I could tell this was all I didn't feel

like the the one Long shot didn't movies any

favor and like I mentioned the big thing is like

every time where it was You know, we we saw that

break in action when it was clearly like ending

one shot and going to the next Every time that

happened any like any tension that was being

built kind of just got deflated because it just

reminded me i'm watching a movie and it just

became aware of the filmmaking, which I think

is You know to me like for a one, you know a

one shot or it shouldn't take you out of it And

again, it's just my experience with it. It did

so that's that was more my bigger issue than

necessarily the performances when you have a

film that starts off with a murder that we see

on screen and then you have two guys that are

going to be as bold and audacious to like put

the body in a piece of furniture and then have

a party with a bunch of people around it and

I'm more fascinated or interested in figuring

out, like, the dynamics between Janet and the

guys that she's involved with. Like, that's problematic.

When I stop immediately caring about the main

crux of this film, like, I don't know. Like,

it doesn't seem like it's doing it a good thing.

But yeah, like I was I don't know. It just did

not work for me overall, especially as I went

towards the end. If you compare this like the

lifeboat, which is another Hitchcock film all

taking place on a lifeboat. Love that I guess

that's maybe I do love and and this is right

up my alley like this is the type of film I like

like I like a limited cast I like, you know,

very limited set like one location to location

something like that like a movie built around

dialogue like all of these things check all my

boxes and I Don't know. I feel like it makes

me want like let's add lifeboat to it and compare

it because I'd be interested to see if that works

better for you because I It's been actually checked

letterbox. Like when did I watch like boat locks?

It was 10 years ago. It was 11 years ago But

when I watched it 11 years ago, I loved it. So

I yeah So again, I think maybe it was perhaps

building up too much. But like I I didn't hate

the movie I didn't walk away like angry or like

thinking no. No, it was just The power of expectations

it just wasn't to me. Yeah, compared to what

we've more of a head scratcher. It wasn't it

wasn't something that got you angry. It's more

of like a head scratcher. Like what what did

everybody else see that I missed type thing?

Yeah, it's like I would wish I enjoyed it more.

That was like a thing. It was just it was more

disappointing because it's like I wanted to like

this more and I didn't. And, you know, especially

with a suspense film, it's hard to go back and

try and watch it again, because if it didn't

work for the first time, I don't see the suspense

probably won't come the second time. So right.

Couple interesting things as well. Well, before

I get to that, I do find it interesting that

as meticulous as they're clearly trying to be

about the choreography, about who's standing

where, about where the furniture needs to be,

and this, that, and the other, there was just

like some blatant, and I know this isn't like

big, this is more nitpicky stuff, but there's

like some blatant things that you notice as you're

watching. That's like, did nobody pick up on

the fact that, for example, the guy cut, the

guy breaks a glass on his hand. bleeding all

over the place and like seconds later his hand

has no sign of a scratch no bandage no anything

and they do a close -up of his hands okay I thought

I was confused by that I'm like oh maybe he didn't

scratch it that bad that's what I was a little

confused like wait he has hand and then that

was a little bit confusing because I thought

that was gonna I thought that was gonna be coming

to play more like it's like oh is he got you

know he got blood someplace but it just One of

the things where you cut yourself with glass

and especially in the hand It doesn't you know,

it takes a while. But yeah, that was a little

weird. It was like, okay, I'm fine now Yeah,

it just seemed a little weird there was the rope

that was clearly all the way in the piece of

furniture and then it was like Almost all the

way out like that was there was just little things

that I'm like, oh, okay I guess I'll just like

carry on like it's not important. Just keep going

with it But how about a couple interesting trivia

pieces the the first of all the guy that gets

strangled at the beginning and screams I've never

heard someone getting strangled be able to scream

So that's interesting, but I know you have to

do it for the effect of the movie, but that was

his last film role. Oh Jesus I did last time

He did seem old like we only see him for a brief

second and like it's like he that's what he seemed

like he was bald and like he didn't seem like

a young person which also can feel like it was

like wait their classmate and then That doesn't

make sense because he doesn't he looks so much

older than them like that's just a crazy thing

like hey my last role was I was Was killed in

the first five minutes of this film and that

was how I went out my my swan song in hollywood

It was also the last film role for the girl that

played janet jone chandler She didn't she I think

she only appeared in like three films total which

I was kind of surprised about because I thought

she did have a little bit of Yeah factor, but

I thought that she was at least a little bit

dynamic on on camera and I I looked her up because

I was like oh what else did she do that I might

find interesting and it was like two films before

this and that was it maybe she maybe she did

more Broadway and stuff like that yeah possibly

a couple other obviously we talked about this

a little bit I think at the end of last episode

this is the first Technicolor film for both Hitchcock

and Jimmy Stewart I believe if I read what I

read correctly. There was a kind of a neat caveat

or like I guess moment in this one since we're

going through a filmography. I don't know why

I'm thinking. What the heck do they call those

things? Easter eggs. Yes, Easter egg. A little

Easter egg for us because they're talking about

other films at one point and the lady, the mother

-in -law or whatever and This that this is a

couple of good moments by that Joan Chandler

the Janet character because the way she's smiling

and kind of laughing off and playing along with

like this crazy lady that's all about her astrological

signs and trying to remember movies that she

just can only describe as something someone and

You know just vague words, but they're clearly

talking about notorious at one point Which is

kind of interesting because they've mentioned

Cary Grant Ingrid Bergman and stuff like that.

So I thought that was kind of an interesting

little nod to one of his previous films, which

just happens to be the last one we watched, which

was cool. And they were also trying to reference

something that Jimmy Stewart did, too. Like,

I thought there was something I was trying to

I wasn't trying to figure out what they were

referencing, but I could. Yeah, there was a couple

of those. And just to kind of go back to what

I was talking about with with both Hitchcock

and Stewart. So found one quote from Jimmy Stewart

that said, quote, The really important thing

being rehearsed here is the camera, not the actors.

Then he said it was worth trying nobody but hitch

would have tried it, but it really didn't work

and then Hitchcock basically said that the reason

he did all of the long takes and and that was

basically because he was trying to build the

framework of a stage play and Trying to keep

the actors like present and alive within the

scene like a play So those are all things we

kind of picked up on as well any like Tidbits

or other things that you picked up on the film

that you haven't brought out yet Um, no, I only

think that we talked about briefly was the you

know The matting that they use in the background

to kind of show the landscape of New York I love

how like, you know, it was clearly like a painting

but they also clearly had like vents or something

like that like to like show Where it's like smoke

coming off of it and stuff like that and how

it also when it would Came night and it would

change over like that that piece I thought like

those things were I thought were really quite

I think I read that it was the largest backdrop

Ever used in a film or something there was something

about that backdrop. Like there was something

significant about like the size or the Complexity

or something about that. I think it's on I think

I saw that somewhere on like IMDB IMDB on the

trivia section Yeah, I was interested because

I found myself looking at it a lot and there's

also like weird cloud formations and I guess

that's what we smoke I don't know, but I thought

that was pretty cool. Like I thought that was

a good way of like the lights the lights at the

end can what was your take on the red and Location

nearby either like a restaurant or something

or something like a sign that was causing the

lights Okay, I was trying to decide if it was

like something if it was supposed to be like

in Suggesting that the police were on their way

and that it was like something to do with police

lights I was really thrown off because it then

also felt like it was coming from the inside

which Yeah, I think I think it was just it was

just coming from meant to put you in the plate

because now it's nighttime and you're at the

city so now Places are putting their lights on

and it was just it was a way of like, you know

clearly was meant to increase the Yeah, the tension

but it was yeah. Yeah trying in name. I had a

question for you in 1948 That you know 9 -1 -1

didn't exist So was opening a window and shooting

three guns into the three shots of your gun into

the air was that like the 9 -1 -1 version of

1948 I thought that's pretty funny, too, because

it's also like you hear the crowd and like, oh,

we need to call the cops. And I feel like if

that happened today, I would not get that reaction.

It's like, all right, we got to we're going to

go away now. And all three of them would have

been sitting in that room for a long time. So

it's like, it's like you shoot a gun like that

in the city. I don't like it's going to be hard

to pinpoint the exact location it came from.

Right. Like, I know there's a phone. They used

it earlier in the movie. Yeah, I get it. I get

it's like for dramatic effect, but I did think

that to him like that seems I did love the final

shot though, like of him sitting, you know, you

see his back and You know one was on the piano.

They wouldn't like drink it like I thought that

was like again technical standpoint though the

way it ended I like I like the framing It's Hitchcock,

of course So, of course like when it comes to

you know framing scenes that they're great and

I did like the way it ended on that final shot

So obviously we don't have a couple of the things

that we have seen in a few of the other films

like there was no mother Relationship that we

see here. There's no like Hitchcock blonde that

we're talking about here. There is They continue

some of the stuff though that we've seen as far

as like the audience knowing what's happening

like we know the whodunit of it and like so like

Having that information and and going along for

the ride. I guess it's something that we've seen

here a little bit Although it wasn't somebody

that was like we saw in the 39 steps where it's

somebody that's not guilty That's trying to get

out of it, which I think is more of the Hitchcock

theme so we'll have to see like I don't know

if there was a lot of stuff here from a Storytelling

standpoint that was Hitchcock Ian It was more

so the the camera work and some of the physical

aspects of like the creation of the film I think

that we get a little bit more of his signature

on it. Did you pick up on anything else? No,

I didn't pick up anything else so Alright, so

I guess a lukewarm response for rope from 1948

from us Which I wasn't sure I wasn't sure if

you're gonna go for this or if you're gonna be

like me I was worried that I was gonna come on

here and be like the negative Nancy So I think

I definitely liked it more than you, but I didn't

like it as much as I was hoping I would gotcha

So next time what we have is we're gonna go three

years into the future for 1951's Strangers on

a Train. So I have never seen that one. It's

going to be another first time watch for me.

Dan has seen this, but about how long ago was

it, do you think, Dan? Oh, 13 years ago. I think

the letterbox I can see it was 13 years ago.

So there we go. So not a first time watch, but

a first time in a long time watch. So and also

on the backdrop of watching three other. Hitchcock

film. So we're gonna see where strangers on a

train takes it takes us Dan How can people keep

in touch with you or share some opinions with

you online? You can check me out at Comic concierge.

I'm on all social media platforms this guy threads

tick -tock Hopefully gonna be started doing more

YouTube video soon. So check that out. I'm a

concierge on YouTube You can get a hold of me

at Optimus Solo on most of the social media platforms,

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the network puts out. So that does it for this

episode. Tune in next time for another chance

to listen to more Cinema Geeks.