"Let's Stay This Way For A Minute" - Rope (1948)

Screened January 23rd, 2023

The perfect murder can be a work of art. 

Prep school pals (let’s be honest, they’re lovers) Brandon (John Dall) and Phillip (Farley Granger) take a thought experiment a few steps too far when they murder their friend and former dormmate David (Dick Hogan). Tempting fate, they stage a dinner party with the victim's family and friends, including their former Prep School housemaster Rupert (Jimmy Stewert), gathered around his hidden corpse. *gay gasp* Shuddering breaths, lingering glances, and trembling lips ensue as tensions rise between the two accomplices. Will Brandon and Phillip prove their intellectual superiority and achieve their goal of reaching “ubermensch” status? Or will Phillip crack under the pressure as Brandon’s vanity leads him to toy with their unsuspecting dinner guests? Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope, based on the Patrick Hamilton play of the same name, is dripping with queer subtext and deviant desire. Hitchcock’s simulated “one-take” thriller is a classic piece of subversive queer cinema that is simultaneously deeply homophobic, extremely homosexual, and a damn good time at the movies. Cis white gay men can be scary y’all, they have been for a long time.