Both Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart said this film didn't work but I thought it works rather well.
Two brilliant young men, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Philip Morgan (Farley Granger), murder their friend to see if they can get away with it. They then hold a party with the body hidden in a chest. Guests include the victim's parents, his girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend. Also invited is their old prep-master Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), the man who is most likely to work out what they have done but might well support their actions.
This was one of Hitchcock's most experimental films with the whole thing appearing to take place in one take. In actual fact, there are takes of about ten minutes with the cuts largely disguised by items such as furniture filling the screen. This is a style that is not unfamiliar to modern viewers and one that is made much easier by digital technology. It's done pretty seamlessly here and you have to focus to spot the cuts. Perhaps most impressive are these long takes that follow characters around an apartment with an enormous Technicolour camera- the furniture was regularly moved and put back in the exact place to make room for the camera and the walls could be silently moved and replaced. The film is surprisingly fluid given this- it would surely have been easier to make the characters more static, though less effective. As a technical feat, it's hugely impressive.
I think the unusual style fits well to the story. Brandon and Philip move around this set largely being really cocky and feeling superior to everyone around them. The long takes allow for the tension to simmer in the background. It also feels more natural and puts the viewer in the room as a helpless observer to their terrible plans.
Philip and in particular Brandon are really awful people. Obviously, no murderer is likable but committing a murder just because they consider themselves superior to the victim and indeed pretty much everyone else is especially awful. The prep-school rich guy feels a little bit of an old-fashioned notion, especially in the US, but we've all come across horrible entitled people only a step below these two.
From a modern perspective, it's difficult not to see Brandon and Philip as a gay couple. This was explicit in the play the film was based on and several of the actors say they knew full well this was the intention, even if it was never mentioned on set. Homosexuality being controversial at the time meant it is never explicitly stated and the censors didn't have the faintest idea but it's impossible not to watch this film now and pick up on this theme. When you start thinking about the power dynamic between Brandon and Philip and then the possibility that Rupert may also be gay, the film starts to become even richer in texture.
James Stewart is really interesting here, playing somewhat away from his 'nice guy' image. It was Rupert's rhetoric as a teacher that eventually led Brandon and Philip to commit the murder. There's always a question looming about whether or not he will approve and it's only really in the final moments of the film that we find out either way. Stewart gives us a man who seems both brilliant enough to uncover the truth but also awful enough to suggest he might agree with them.
A successful experiment that is superbly well-made.
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