Hitchcock's Rope: Morality, Guilt and the Tension of Secrets

Photo by Mockup Graphics on Unsplash

Monday evening the film Rope was on one of the cable networks, and even though I've seen this Jimmy Stewart classic several times I couldn't help but watch it yet again. What makes it a great film isn't just the acting and the dialogue, but also the psychological probing and collision of philosophical ideas that director Hitchcock explores.

Based on Patrick Hamilton's book by the same name, it later became a play before being adapted to film in 1948. It's a story of two young men, Brandon Shaw and Phillip Morgan, who strangle their friend David Kentley and then invite his friends and family over for dinner. The body is hidden in a chest in the middle of the room, and the two men pretend that David is still alive while offering various suggestions for his absence.

One of the guests is Rupert Cadell, a philosophy professor whom Shaw and Morgan admired when they were his students at University. Brandon is proud of what they have done, Phillip is rattled by the terror of being found out. It's one thing to imagine doing something audacious, quite another thing to actually do it. 

When David Kentley fails to show up for the party, Rupert begins to suspect something is amiss. Little by little the pressure is on, and Phillip begins to sweat. As the evening unfolds, Rupert's suspicions feel a little like thumbscrews being applied by a master tormentor. 

Brandon is so proud of his "achievement" that he's not concerned about Rupert's inquisitiveness. Phillip, however, begins drinking heavily to calm his nerves. Like a bloodhound, once Rupert is on the trail he's determined to follow it wherever it leads. When he finally discovers Kentley's body, the story is not yet over. Brandon points out how Professor Cadell's own words were what inspired him. 

And what were these words? Rupert had presented Nietzsche's concept of the Ubermensch, the "Superman." The Superman is not constrained by the conventional morality of the common man. Brandon justified their murdering someone as a philosophical decision, their way of demonstrating their superiority, that they belonged to the class of "exceptional people."

For Brandon, committing the perfect murder was something akin to an art project. The flawless execution of his idea was his way of proving his eminence. Living inside the bubble of his imagination, he assumed Rupert would actually appreciate his achievement.

Both perpetrators fell victim to the self-deception that they could detach themselves from the consequences of their actions. Guilt has a corrosive effect on one's conscience, and as the party proceeded it became increasingly difficult to hold normal conversations. As Neil Young once sang. "How slow and slow and slow it goes to mend the tear that always shows."

In past viewings, I focused on the masterful manner in which Hitchcock built suspense. Also, the way he creates situations in which everything occurs within a tight space. Lifeboat is an example of this, as is Rear Window. In the latter, as in Rope, there is a sense in which the audience is present in the room, watching voyeuristically.

The story explores power and manipulation as well. Paul Tournier's The Strong and the Weak examines how people react differently to external circumstances. Brandon's dominance is clear, and Phillip goes along with Brandon's smooth-talking persuasive arguments. How many people have "gone along" with things they felt uncomfortable with, that violated their foundational beliefs because they failed to be strong, failed to take a stand? Whether it be a gang or a simply a relationship, things get messy when values are at odds. In the end, both characters will suffer the same consequences and be held accountable for their crime. 

We can pity Phillip but in a court of law he was an accessory to murder and likely will not get a break in the courts.

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Postscript
In 1979-80 I met a man who had been an accessory to murder. I was in Puerto Rico at the time. His uncle had planned to murder a man in Chicago and the nephew was used to lure the victim into an alley where the uncle took the man's life. Both the uncle and his nephew, whom I will call Antonio here, went to prison. Antonio's wife, a strong Christian, visited him every day no matter the weather. (She had to take a bus and walk miles to get there and home.) Her sacrificial love broke his heart and he gave his life to the Lord. When I met him he had a beautiful spirit and was dedicated to helping others to make a different choice from the one he made years earlier with his uncle. The hardships he'd endure, his wife's love and the mercy of God changed him on the inside. He approached life with humility because of what he had been through.

There's a Middle Eastern proverb that goes like this: The same sun that hardens clay melts wax. We all make mistakes and sometimes especially bad choices. How we respond determines the "what next" of our own lives.

It would be interesting to see how the story of Rupert, Brandon and Phillip plays out. One of these young men may become hardened bitterness whereas the other's eyes are opened and sees things in a new way. Perhaps Rupert will write a book that addresses these issues, that counters the creeping cynicism and amorality fostered by Nietzsche, Existentialism and (later) post-modernism.

What are your thoughts on this?

Was It Suicide or Was It Murder?

When I was a kid, and actually to this day since I am doing it now, I used to ask a trivia question about the Rolling Stones' 1965 hit single Satisfaction. "What was the name of the song on the B-side?" If you guessed, The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" you win. The 45 had a blue label with the London imprint.

It's a long time ago, but the original front man in the group was not Mick Jagger or the Jagger-Richards combo. The man, a youth actually, who put the Stones into the spotlight was Brian Jones. More than just a pretty face, he was a quite talented musician in his own right. He plays at least seventeen different instruments over the course of several early Stones albums.

Early on, however, their manager Andrew Loog Oldham felt that Jagger and Richards should be pushed closer to the spotlight and Jones accepted this re-arrangement of significance. In watching the Beatles rise to prominence he recognized that there were financial benefits to writing your own music. (Oldham proved influential in helping another famous rock star emerge, bringing Jimi Hendrix home to England at the urging of Keith Richards' girl friend. Hendrix's career ignited overseas.)

The flamboyant Jones was also a notorious party animal and did all the drugs that were in vogue at the time. He was highly visible in "the scene" and could be seen with all the top draws both East Coast and West Coast. In '67 he had a high profile relationship with Nico of the Velvet Underground, for example, and introduce Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Music Festival.

Ultimately, these "no boundaries" lifestyles take a toll, and Jones ended up at the bottom of a swimming pool after binging on alcohol and barbituates. Within a few short years, Jimi, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison would all join him on "the other side." Rock star self-destruction is undoubtedly a side effect of too much fame when mixed with the right concoction of personal instability, taking down many famous names. Just a few from the short history of Rock 'n Roll... John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Tim Buckley, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Rick Grech (Blind Faith), Brian Epstein (manager of the Beatles), Keith Moon (The Who), Kurt Cobain, Billy Holiday, Sid Vicious, and so many more.

When they found Jones in the bottom of that pool, the arc of his career had already declined. That it was a self-destructive act, or accident, seemed self-evident. His estrangement from the band, mood swings, and drug excesses led to an easy conclusion.

In the 1990's, however, a builder who had been present at that time, allegedly made a deathbed confession that he had killed Brian Jones. This led to a book, and then another. And yesterday, two months and forty years since that drowning, police re-opened the investigation of Brian Jones' death.

Was it suicide or was it murder? Will we ever really know?

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