History Theatre / Rope

One spring day, two elite young Manhattanites, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Creator/FarleyGranger), strangle their acquaintance, David Kentley (Dick Hogan), and hide [[MacGuffin the body]] away inside a wooden chest at their penthouse apartment. Their reason for doing so is their desire to commit the perfect murder; to see just how perfect it is, they host a dinner party with the chest kept in plain sight as a buffet table. All the guests at the party — including David's father (Creator/CedricHardwicke); his aunt, Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier); his fiancé, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler), and the killers' former prep-school teacher, Rupert Cadell (Creator/JimmyStewart) — grow worried at David's absence. As Brandon continues to push his luck, Phillip shows remorse and Rupert investigates his suspicions. All of which leads to a discovery...

'''Brandon:''' I don't remember feeling very much of anything... until his body went limp and I knew it was over. I felt tremendously exhilarated. How did you feel?\\

** Brandon is a fan of invoking this actively, making quips that only the audience realizes are subtle brags and references to his crime.

** Janet saying that Brandon's sense of humor is "a little too malicious", when the extent of said maliciousness is lost on her but now the viewer.

* BreakTheHaughty: Brandon, the least-remorseful of the two killers, gets his comeuppance when [[spoiler:Rupert gives him a big "The Reason You Suck" Speech before alerting the police to the murder]].

* DramaticIrony: Any time the other guests wonder why David is late to the party. The audience knows he isn't late at all and was actually early to the party.

** Janet saying that Brandon's sense of humor is "a little too malicious," the extent of said malitiousness lost on her but now the viewer.

** Even though he went through with the whole murder "experiment", Phillipe isn't very comfortable with the idea of serving the party's dinner on top of the furniture that hides David's body.

* PlotHole: Philip at one point cuts his hand as he breaks a wine glass when he is mistaken for David by a guest. When another reads his palm, however, the cut is gone.

** Janet's and Mrs. Atwater's conversation about Creator/CaryGrant and Creator/IngridBergman starring in a movie with a OneWordTitle that neither Janet nor Mrs. Atwater can remember is a clear reference to ''Film/{{Notorious}}''.

* MachiavelliWasWrong: Played with. [[spoiler:This is a rare variety where the proverbial "Machiavelli" himself admits he was wrong. Rupert has always felt distant towards his fellow men, and has tried to cope with it through rhetorics about how murder is an art form that only the few should be allowed to practice. But when he finds that his own student was pointlessly murdered by his two other students ''inspired by those rhetorics'', it turns his stomach and proves to him that no one has the right to decide who lives and who dies.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

One spring day, two elite young Manhattanites, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Creator/FarleyGranger), murder their acquaintance, David Kentley (Dick Hogan), and hide [[MacGuffin the body]] inside a wooden chest at their penthouse apartment. Their reason for doing so is to commit the perfect murder; to see how perfect it is, they host a dinner party with the chest kept in plain sight as a buffet table. All the guests at the party — including David's father (Creator/CedricHardwicke); his aunt, Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier); his fiancé, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler), and the killers' former prep-school teacher, Rupert Cadell (Creator/JimmyStewart) — grow worried at David's absence. As Brandon continues to push his luck, Phillip shows remorse and Rupert investigates his suspicions. All of which leads to a discovery...

One spring day, two elite young Manhattanites, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Creator/FarleyGranger), murder their acquaintance, David Kentley (Dick Hogan), and hide [[MacGuffin the body]] inside a wooden chest at their penthouse apartment. Their reason for doing so is to commit the perfect murder; to see how perfect it is, they host a dinner party with the chest kept in plain sight as a buffet table. All the guests at the party — including David's father (Cedric Hardwicke), his fiancé, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler), and the killers' former prep-school teacher, Rupert Cadell (Creator/JimmyStewart) — grow worried at David's absence. As Brandon pushes his luck, Phillip shows remorse and Rupert investigates his suspicions. All of this leads to a discovery...

One day, two elite young Manhattanites, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger), murder their acquaintance, David Kentley (Dick Hogan), and hide [[MacGuffin the body]] inside a wooden chest at their penthouse apartment. Their reason for doing so is to commit the perfect murder; to see how perfect it is, they host a dinner party with the chest kept in plain sight as a buffet table. All the guests at the party — including David's father (Cedric Hardwicke), his fiancé, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler), and the killers' former prep-school teacher, Rupert Cadell (Creator/JimmyStewart) — grow worried at David's absence. As Brandon pushes his luck, Phillip shows remorse and Rupert investigates his suspicions. All of this leads to a discovery...

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Rupert can almost be seen as a KarmaHoudini if one ignores that unlike Brandon, he is not sociopathic enough to be able to live well with the knowledge of what he uwittingly and at least partially contributed to.

* MachiavelliWasWrong: Played with. [[spoiler:This is a rare variety where the proverbial "Machiavelli" himself admits he was wrong. Rupert has always been a firm believer that murder is an art form that only the few should be allowed to practice. But when he finds that his own student was pointlessly murdered by his two other students, it turns his stomach and proves to him that no one has the right to decide who lives and who dies.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Brandon and Phillipe's respective behavior during the party resembles the difference between extroverts and introverts. Brandon (in his own [[TheSociopath twisted]] way) fits in with the other guests during the story and comes out of the party feeling invigorated and satisfied. Phillipe (granted he's wrestling with his guilt) acts uncomfortable during the entire social event while surrounded by people or conversing with them, and comes out of the experience emotionally drained.

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: When David's aunt predicts Phillip's future using his zodiac (Cancer), she cheerily predicts that "[his] hands will make [him] famous", unaware those same hands strangled her nephew to death. This leaves Phillip speechless as he looks at his hands with guilt, as well as fear of being caught.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Brandon and Phillipe's respective behavior during the party resembles the difference between extroverts and introverts. Brandon (in his own [[TheSociopath twisted]] way) fits in with the other guests during the story and comes out of the party feeling invigorated and satisfied. Phillipe (granted he's wrestling with his guilt) acts uncomfortable during the entire social event while surrounded by people or conversing with them, and comes out of the experience emotionally drained.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: It's pretty clear that Brandon and Phillip are in a relationship, even considering the strict censorship of the time. That said, this was clearer in the play.

** Mrs. Atwater also sings the praises of actor Creator/JamesMason ("So attractively sinister!")... who, a decade later, would appear as a villain in [[Film/NorthByNorthwest another Hitchcock film]].