Rope(1948)

Pooper:
A suspicious Rupert (James Stewart) comes back to the apartment and opens the chest, discovering the body. Brandon (John Dall) and Phillip (Farley Granger) are caught.

Longer version:
Brandon and Phillip murder their friend David, strangling him with a piece of rope. The crime is carried out purely as a “work of art”, with the intention of demonstrating that the two are superior people, above normal considerations of morality. To enhance the brilliance of the scheme they’ve invited various friends, including David’s girlfriend and parents, to a dinner party at their apartment whilst David’s body lies in a wooden trunk in the living room. Over the course of the evening the tissue of lies they’ve spun begins to slowly unravel, making their former teacher Rupert Cadell increasingly suspicious. Cadell first promulgated the idea of superior and inferior people to the boys when he was their teacher, and has some inkling of what may have happened. Whilst Brandon is quite happy with the crime, Phillip is guilt-ridden and soon starting to crack under the pressure as everyone wonders where David is.

Eventually the party breaks up and everyone leaves, but Rupert sees David’s hat in the cupboard as he gets his coat. He returns after a few minutes, pretending to have lost his cigarette case. When he pulls the rope out of his pocket Phillip cracks, blabbering that Rupert knows what they did. The three wrestle over Brandon’s gun, but Rupert gets it and finally opens the chest. Brandon appeals to him, hoping he will appreciate their ‘perfect crime’, but Rupert is disgusted by what he regards as their perversion of his ideas. He fires a few rounds out of the window, and the three sit in silence as police sirens approach.