This scene also underlines the horror of what Brandon and Phillip have done; this good man and loving father is eating food, unaware, from the top of the chest where his son's murdered body lies hidden. While his murderers- or one of them, anyway- laugh up their sleeves over what they've done.
While I don't think that the movie Rope works on every level, it does have some really well done bits and pieces. For example, David's father is played by experienced character actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke who makes the most of very limited screen time and dialogue to render his character memorable. He is a smallish, almost timid man who is obviously worried- and trying not to show it- about his missing son. Despite his seeming timidity however, Mr. Kentley does not hesitate to call both Rupert Cadell and Brandon Shaw on their contempt for traditional morality and the sanctity of life. His quietly but firmly stated principles no doubt seem amusingly quaint and old fashioned to the two sophisticates, but in reality they reveal their paucity of intellectual depth. Their arguments are slick and sophisticated but ultimately glib and shallow. Mr. Kentley's soft spoken decency puts to shame the loquacious but morally bankrupt speeches of Brandon and Rupert. This scene also underlines the horror of what Brandon and Phillip have done; this good man and loving father is eating food, unaware, from the top of the chest where his son's murdered body lies hidden. While his murderers- or one of them, anyway- laugh up their sleeves over what they've done. Cadell's use of the metronome in the scene where he's quizzing the obviously nervous wreck which is Phillip, is inspired. It almost takes the place of a lie detector as Rupert questions a spooked and increasingly unhinged Phillip. As the metronome steadily counts the time- with Rupert varying its speed- Phillip attempts to keep the time as he plays and tries to answer Cadell's probing queries. As he becomes more upset, he blunders more, unable to keep to the basic beat. As the metronome increases its pace, we can imagine that Phillip's pulse is also racing, panicked at the thought of Rupert working out what they've done. Phillip is obviously the weaker member of the murderous duo, led by the more forceful Brandon. In the Franks murder which inspired this story, Loeb and Leopold were engaged in a sexual relationship. The play upon which Rope is based also had the two murderers be homosexual but, with the Hays Code in effect, the film could not obviously do so. It does make some rather broad hints as to the nature of their relationship, starting almost right away with the murder. After David is dead, Brandon asks Phillip how it was for him, and even smokes a cigarette directly following the killing. In the play, Rupert Cadell previously had a sexual relationship with Brandon though I don't really get this vibe in the movie. What is certain though is that Brandon greatly admires Cadell and wishes to impress him. Cadell seems more amused than flattered by this admiration, until of course that amusement turns to horror as he realizes what Brandon has done in the name of his much touted philosophies. I'll discuss these philosophies in my final post about this film.
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