Today, let’s look at two very different movies that have a common thread. Both of them are inspired on the same gruesome unimaginable real life crime, committed by two teens, Leopold(19) and Loeb(18) in May 1924.

Both young men came from affluent families and were heavily influenced by the concept of Friedrich Nietsche’s superman. To them this superman was an individual with ‘transcendent’ and ‘superior’ qualities that could rise above the laws that apply to the rest of society because of their extraordinary intellect.

These men decided to test their intellect and their capacity to commit crimes and escape the law, first by committing minor crimes and ultimately planning and committing the murder of a young boy after kidnapping him. They were ultimately caught and sentenced to life sentences. Both men confessed that the prime motive was ‘thrill-seeking’.

I will compare the movies and state my opinion which may come as a surprise to some of my readers.

Rope

The above mentioned incident was adapted by British playwright Hamilton in his play Rope. The setting for the play is London. In 1948, Hitchcock brought this play to the screen, making several changes, including moving the setting to a penthouse in Manhattan, New York. Two interesting aspects of Rope are Hitchcock’s use of long takes in the movie and the filming of the movie in technicolor.

In the movie, two young men Shaw(played by John Dall) and Morgan(Farley Granger) murder their prep school classmate David Kentley, and hide the corpse in an wooden chest. The two men host a dinner shortly after this, arrogantly challenging justice to show itself and apprehend them. The guests include the dead man’s father, aunt, fiancee and the fiancee’s lover. One other guest at this dinner is Rupert Cadwell(James Stewart), their prep-school teacher who introduced them to the Nietsche’s’Superman’.

Clearly, Shaw is the leader of the two in the sinister plan and Morgan is his faithful follower. As the evening progresses, the two inform the guests that David would be arriving soon and play mind games on them.

They use the chest with the corpse as a buffet table and Shaw places a candle stand on it as a symbol of irony , an act of further satisfying his ego that fate cannot catch up to him.

He alludes to the lack of David’s presence to steer the conversation toward committing murder. He then plays matchmaker to David’s fiancee and her former lover. Rupert finally begins to smell a rat and the whole fiendish plot is exposed. He must also make peace with himself for his prior view of the superman as favorable. Hitchcock makes his customary cameo in the movie as a neon sign of his profile in the New York skyline.

Obviously my expectations were high, considering that this was a Hitchcock movie and had a good cast with veteran thespian James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger. Unfortunately, I was in for a disappointment. Rope turned out to be an average movie for several reasons.

The opening scene where the two strangle their friend is almost bordering on unintentionally laughable. Reviewer Mae Tinee said that this scene was ‘sickeningly graphic, but to me it was so badly done.

The dying man lets out a scream that does not sound like a man struggling to breathe but of a man screaming in pain. One of the two killers actually has to feel the heart of the dying man to ensure that he has died. There is no struggle and seems as if the actors are just going through their motions.

The single location of the play is the penthouse apartment that seems so obviously fake. The view of Manhattan’s skyline in the background is in a hideous blurry blue and white painting., and in this color movie makes it completely unconvincing and amateur.

There are no great performances, and James Stewart in particular looks tired and haggard, a shadow if his former self. The movie was considered a failed experiment by Hitchcock and justifiably so, as it fails on so many fronts. Dall and Granger put in performances that can best be described as ‘passable’. I do not recommend Rope. Lets take a look at another movie.

Compulsion

Compulsion released in 1959, is a black and white movie by Richard Fleischer.It is based on the book of the same name by Meyer Levin. Like Rope, Compulsion is inspired by the murder committed by Leopold and Loeb. It’s plot is different from that of Rope, although the two share common themes. Compulsion is closer in its story line to the actual event. The cast includes Dean Stockwell, Brandon Dillman and the one and only Orson Welles.

The movie begins like a thriller. We see two young men, Artie Strauss and Judd Steiner who are students at the Univesity of Chicago. Both men come from elite rich families. The two forge a devilish friendship with Artie as the mastermind and Judd as his obedient sidekick. The two commit petty crimes, to test their prowness, in avoiding consequences. he audience is well aware that the two are soon planning something a lot more sinister.

Sure enough, the two men commit the vicious crime of kidnapping and killing a young boy. The crime however is far from perfect. A slip up by one of them and a dexterous investigation by the police implicates the duo and they are implicated. Further interrogation would produce a confession, leading to no doubt, as to who committed the murders.

It is at this point that Orson Welles makes his entry. As a star defence lawyer, Jonathan Wilk his hired to defend the murders. The rest of the movie is about how Wilk argues his case to save the men from the death penalty.

Stockwell and Dillman’s performances in Compulsion are far superior and a lot more convincing than those of Dall and Granger in Rope. Stockwell in particular put in a stellar performance as a remorseless evil student . Unfortunately for him, the presence of Orson Welles overshadowed his performance in the media. The last part of the movie is completely in the domain of Welles who puts in a strong performance as the celebrated defense lawyer.

I would regard compulsion as a good movie, maybe even a very good movie. However, I would not call it a great movie. While far superior to ‘Rope’, one of the biggest problems with Compulsion is its narrative.

Compulsion begins as a thriller. The opening scene that introduces us to Artie and Judd and then proceeds with their encounter with a drunk is one of the most chilling scenes I have seen in recent memory.

However, as the movie moves swiftly toward the end, it takes on an entirely new persona, and abruptly shifts gear. We see it transform its narrative from a thriller and try to make a case against the death penalty. Orson Welles who plays the lawyer defending the two fiends delivers an impressive speech on why the two should not be put to death. I felt blindsided with this abrupt shift.

If I was to advise the director, I would have asked him to build the narrative as follows. The movie would begin with Wells in court, defending the two men. He would state at the very beginning that he would argue against the two men being put to death. The movie would then have flashbacks as to the happenings that led to the prosecution of the men. In this case, the movie would have built the narrative and have the audience contemplating, in their own heads, whether or not the two men deserved the death penalty. This would have made a tighter and better narration. However, I fully recommend Compulsion.

I will end this review with a few more points.

Other critics have claimed that there is a homosexual subtext in ‘Rope’. For one thing, Granger was bisexual and Dall was gay. The play of the same name was more explicit in defining the two character as to having a homosexual relationship. As homosexuality was not well favored by society at that time, Hitchcock avoid any explicit mention of the sexuality of the two men. Honestly, this subtext eluded me.

Leopold and Loeb, in fact were lovers.The 1992 movie Swoon, is another rendition of this story covers this aspect.

Long takes without breaks as long as 10 minutes when the movie was filmed is another interesting feature of Rope.

Rope Movie Quotes

Shaw: I’ve always wished for more artistic talent. Well, murder can be an art, too. The power to kill can be just as satisfying as the power to create.

Shaw: Nobody commits a murder just for the experiment of committing it. Nobody except us.

Shaw : It is a little difficult trying to keep up with your romances. After me came Kenneth, now it’s David. Why the, the switch from Kenneth to David anyway?

Janet Walker: Obviously I think he’s nicer.

Compulsion Movie Quotes

Arti : Crime. Oh, my wealthy fraternity brothers. 67 dollars, and a second-hand typewriter.

Judd: I must agree with Nietzsche. Tribal codes and such do not necessarily apply to the leaders of society.

Professor: All men are bound by law, Mr. Steiner. And had Nietzsche been a lawyer instead of a German philosopher, he would have known that, too. Are you going to tell me that Moses felt himself above the laws that he laid down for his own people?

Judd: What’s one life, more or less? There were nine million people killed in the war. What does one little Chicago boy matter?

Judd: If we use Plato’s system, you see, all children would be wards of the state and assured of being educated correctly.