Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: Two prep school boys plot a murder and a party afterwards with the guest of honor dead in a chest in the sitting room.
Biased, pithy comments: This has ``experiment'' written all over it. When it's Hitchcock experimenting, of course, it's pretty darn good, but this theatrical (i.e. it all takes place on stage, more or less) script doesn't play as well as some of his other films. It was Hitchcock's first try at color, too, and I had enough time to start looking at the different exposures. Still, with thousand-foot lengths of film and long, long takes, it's neat to watch and has a few moments of tension. The searing anti-fascist statement seems a little heavy later on, but probably was worthwhile in 1948.
Other Notes: Based on real-life thrill-kill case, but this time without having the main characters be homosexuals, although people have projected such onto the main characters. (Didn't Brandon talk about how he dated Chandler's character?)
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Cedrick Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Douglas Dick, Edith Evanson, Dick Hoagn, Joan Chandler.
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock