Hitchcock's Rope And It's Chilling Background

 

"Ubermensch" is a philosophical concept introduced by the German philosopher "Friedrich Nietzche" which means Superhuman and more specifically superior human. The intention of the evolution of this word may be to add worth to the earthly life.

Nathan(L)  and Loeb (R)

Such a concept drove two young men Nathan Freudental Leopold Jr and Richard Albert Loeb in their late teens got impassioned with the dogma which engendered them to commit a crime in the year 1924 which led to a catastrophic ending. 

Both were from a wealthy background and pursuing their studies at the University of Chicago. It was said Leopold was a child prodigy and was fluent in five languages among fifteen languages he had learned. In this age, he received an undergraduate degree from the University with Phi Beta Kappa honors and was planning to go for higher education at Harvard Law School.

Loeb was also exceptionally intelligent and said to have skipped several grades in school. He was deeply fascinated by history and supposed to be the youngest graduate, at the age of 17 from the University of Michigan. Their mutual interest in crime escalated their acquaintance to friendship.

Bobby Frank

A 14-year-old boy named Bobby Franks used to stay closer to the Lobes and occasionally played tennis with him in his place. Bobby's father was a renowned watchmaker and had sufficient wealth.

To fulfill their ubermensch delusion, they aspired to shape a perfect crime and planned for kidnapping and murder. After almost seven months of planning, they kidnapped Bobby and killed him. After removing his clothes and making the body unidentifiable, they disposed of the body in a culvert and returned to their place in Chicago and continued their normal life. Leopold was only 19 and Loeb was 18 then. They contacted Bobby's parents for ransom faking their identity as per their plan.

The Chicago police launched extensive search operations and announced rewards to get a lead on this. The police found a pair of eyeglasses having unusual hinges and discovered that such glasses were purchased by only three customers in Chicago and Leopold was one of them. Leopold's alibi on this could not able to satisfy the investigators and both of them were summoned and the murder charge was filed against them.

Both of them were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and an additional 99 years for the kidnapping.

Loeb was killed by his fellow inmate in the prison in the year 1936 when he was only 31. Leopold was freed on parole in the year 1958 at the age of 54.

Various dramatic work was inspired by this tragic incident among which a play in 1929 by Patrick Hamilton " Rope " was one of them. Hitchcock made the film with the same name in 1948 and supposed to be his first technicolor film. This was a limited setting film with a screenplay by Arthur Laurent.

Brandon Shaw( Dall) and Phillip Morgan ( Granger) were two young men, sensitive to art and culture had a delusion to be superior to others. As a part of the intellectual exercise, to commit a perfect crime they strangled David Kentley ( Dick Hogan) and conceal the body in a large antique chest. They were hosting a dinner party in their apartment and used the chest as a buffet table for keeping the food.

Father and aunt along with his fiancee and former lover of David were present in the party but were unaware of the fact. Their prep school housemaster Rupert Cadell ( James Stewart) was also invited. Their aspiration for a perfect crime was years old and they had discussed this with Rupert during their school days and were in the impression that Rupert had approved their idea. Rupert got suspicious when their housekeeper Mrs. Wilson (Edith Evanson) accidentally handed over the monogrammed hat of David to him. He insisted to examine the chest and was shocked to discover the corpse inside it. He got ashamed when the two tried to ratify the incident though he strongly repudiated and fired several shots to attract the attention of the police.