Based on the famous Leopold and Loeb murder case (from which two other films, COMPULSION and SWOON, were also derived), ROPE both challenges and terrifies the audience. Alfred Hitchcock disdained the whodunit crime story, which he felt lacked emotional force, and ROPE shows the director’s preference for letting the audience know more than the characters onscreen. The film opens as two young men (Farley Granger and John Dall) strangle a friend just to prove they’re intellectually capable of committing the perfect crime. To add to the amusement, they hide the body in a trunk that will serve as the dinner table for a party honoring the deceased. The film hones in on an hour and a half of the party, with the constantly moving camera capturing the changing emotional atmosphere as the guests grow increasingly concerned about the fate of the missing boy. ROPE is a directorial tour de force, blending complex camera movement with intricate staging to present the entire story in near-real time in one location. Notably, the adaptation of the play by Patrick Hamilton was written by perennial Hitchcock actor Hume Cronyn.
Translator
A fragile, anxious boy, 12-year-old Oskar is regularly bullied by his stronger classmates but never strikes back. The lonely boy’s wish for a friend seems to come true when he meets Eli, also 12, who moves in next door to him with her father. A pale, serious young girl, she only comes out at night and doesn’t seem affected by the freezing temperatures.Coinciding with Eli’s arrival is a series of inexplicable disappearances and murders. One man is found tied to a tree, another frozen in the lake, a woman bitten in the neck. Blood seems to be the common denominator–and for an introverted boy like Oskar, who is fascinated by gruesome stories, it doesn’t take long before he figures out that Eli is a vampire. But by now a subtle romance has blossomed between Oskar and Eli, and she gives him the strength to fight back against his aggressors. Oskar becomes increasingly aware of the tragic, inhuman dimension of Eli’s plight, but cannot bring himself to forsake her. Frozen forever in a twelve-year-old’s body, with all the burgeoning feelings and confused emotions of a young adolescent, Eli knows that she can only continue to live if she keeps on moving. But when Oskar faces his darkest hour, Eli returns to defend him the only way she can.
Legendary martial artist Li Mu Bai is tracking the murderer of his master. The poised and self-assured Li can handle anything — except his feelings for lithe, pantherish Yu Shu Lien. Jen Yu, the tremulous and spoiled daughter of the Province’s governor, is also fascinated by Shu Lien’s glamorous life: that a woman can have so many adventures and such freedom is marvelous to her. Though the refined Jen is soon to be married off into respectability, she harbors a sinister plan. By night she transforms into a masked and cunning thief, out to steal the Green Destiny, an invincible blade once wielded by Li. At the same time, Li embarks on his own quest to recover the missing sword, possibly the key to his master’s murder.
Continuing the story-line which unfolded in “Kill Bill Vol. I,” this is a revenge tale of an expert assassin, called The Bride, who sets out on a quest to wreak vengeance upon her former employer, Bill, and other members of their assassin circle, for shooting her on the day of her wedding–along with all The Bride’s guests in attendance–and leaving her for dead. When this chapter in the story begins, The Bride will have already encountered some of her targets, having battled her way up the chain of command. So, after dispensing with former colleagues O-Ren Ishii and Vernita, she resumes her quest for justice. With those two down, the Bride has two remaining foes on her ‘Death List’ to pursue–Budd and Elle Driver–before moving on to her ultimate goal: to KILL BILL.
Sam “Ace” Rothstein, the consummate bookie who can change the odds merely by placing a bet, has risen through the ranks of the Midwestern mob to be picked by the bosses to front their entree into Vegas. Ace lives and breathes the odds. He eventually doubles the mob’s take and changes the rules of how the casinos are run. But he can’t control the odds when it comes to Ginger McKenna, the chip-hustling vamp who charms Ace and becomes his wife. His infatuation with Ginger turns to obsession as she rises with him to the upper crust of society, then turns to the bottle and pills for consolation in her gilded cage. The third member of this triangle of greed and obsession is Nicky Santoro, Ace’s best friend and fellow graduate of the city streets. Together, they run the perfect operation, with Ace in charge and Nicky providing the muscle. But as Nicky expands his interests and each man gains power, their lives become entangled in a story of hot tempers, obstinacy, money, love and deception.
An alien dignitary comes to Earthg to learn why humans can’t stop warrings amongst eachother.
A masterpiece and one of the top moneymakers of the 1930’s. Fortune-hunters travel to Skull Island in search of the fabled giant ape “King Kong.” Enticing him with the lovely Fay Wray they capture him and bring him back to New York where he escapes and ransacks the city searching for her. First sequel: “Son of Kong.”
