Rope

1948, Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 80 min.

Introduced by astrologer Joseph Addeo

Zodiac: Cancer (the putative star sign of Phillip, played by Farley Granger, whose star sign is actually Cancer)

Constance Collier plays Mrs. Atwater, a slightly absentminded guest at dinner—and at the scene of a crime. An amateur astrologer, she divines the star sign of one of the hosts, Farley Granger, who is also one of the murderers:

You were born on the 14th of July. You’re Cancer, the crab. You’re a moon child. May I see your hand? Good fingers, strong, artistic. These hands will bring you great fame…

Hitchcock’s filmmaking techniques—this was his first film in color, shot in just ten takes to make to look like one—and the movie’s gay subtext make Rope one of the most pioneering films to come out of Hollywood in the 1940s. The identity of the murderers is never in doubt, but whether they will get away with it remains a mystery to the end.

“The film is so chilly you could ice champagne in it or place it around a silver serving dish of fresh caviar…Rope is not an unrecognized Hitchcock masterpiece, but one cannot understand the truly bold originality of the man without seeing it.”

—Vincent Canby, New York Times

About Cabaret Cinema: Dreams & Prophecy

Inspired by the Astro Poets, the whimsical astrologers beloved by the Twitterverse, Cabaret Cinema looks beyond the stars of Hollywood to the stars in the sky this summer. Twelve films aligned with the signs of the zodiac ensure there’s something for everyone. Whether you were born under a Black Moon or Sans Soleil, come see what the cinema of the past portends for the future.