Rope - Softcover

Genre: Drama

Characters: 6 males, 2 females

Scenery: Interior

For the mere sake of adventure, danger, and the "fun of the thing," Wyndham Brandon persuades his weak minded friend, Charles Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate, a perfectly harmless man named Ronald Raglan. They place the body in a wooden chest, and to add spice to their handiwork, invite a few acquaintances, including the dead youth's father, to a party, the chest with its gruesome contents serving as a supper table. The horror and tension are worked up gradually; thunder grows outside, the guests leave, and we see the reactions of the two murderers, watched closely by the suspecting lame poet, Rupert Cadell. Finally they break down under the strain and confess their guilt.

Brandon wants excitement and little cares how he gets it. He persuades his weak-minded friend, Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate. The two place the body in a wooden chest and, to add spice to their handiwork, invite a few acquaintances, including the dead man's father, round to a party, the chest with its gruesome contents serving as a supper table. The horror and tension are worked up gradually; thunder growls outside, the guests leave, and we see the reactions of the two murderers, watched closely by the suspicting Rupert Cadell. Finally, they break down under the strain and confess their guilt. The final curtain descends on Cadell blowing the whistle which will summon a waiting policeman. Rope, first produced and published in 1929, was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948 and remains to this day one of the classics of the thriller genre.