When Hchck Went Gay: ‘Strangers On A Tra’ And ‘Rope’ | Decir

Contents:

• GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS
• WHEN HCHCK WENT GAY: ‘STRANGERS ON A TRA’ AND ‘ROPE’
• PORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMSPORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMSPORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMSPORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMSPORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMS

GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS

In late 1920s England, Aled and Alma Hchck socialized and were good iends wh Ivor Novello and his partner, Robert “Bobbie” Andrews, who had lavish parti that were notorly gay.

After he had e out as gay later life, Rope’s screenplay wrer, Arthur Lrents, said a DVD mentary of the film, “What was cur to me was that Rope was obvly about homosexuals. The plot is nearly intil; however, the play explicly tablish that the two ma characters are a homosexual relatnship, and their former school teacher, Rupert, is also a homosexual who had affairs wh both of them. Charters and Calditt are not sissy sikicks, the most mon gay male characterizatn allowed Amerin movi of the time (such as Edward Everett Horton’s rol the Gger Rodgers-Fred Astaire movi).

While Ripley‘s homosexual unrton are certaly more blatant, there’s somethg fely there Bno’s tert Guy — part of may be social climbg, but part of may very well be sexual. What’s so fascatg about the queer subtext Hchck’s films is that he knew, as a director and a provotr, that makg the simple suggtn of homosexualy was enough to create unease, to raise the stak for both his characters and his dience.

WHEN HCHCK WENT GAY: ‘STRANGERS ON A TRA’ AND ‘ROPE’

Rope's pictn of whe upper-class Manhattan gays displays that Old Hollywood knack of turng a popular dience to sirs and took a mischievo geni to make a post-WWII movie wh subtle queer characters. Their crime repeats that of the famo gay duo Loeb and Leopold, whose actual 1920s Chigo "thrill killg" beme the basis of such later movi as Compulsn (1959), wh Dean Stockwell's great gay performance, and the 1992 die film Swoon.

It is a pet mort the middle of a murro afternoon threome, but the gayt moment Rope may be when Rupert nonts the all-but-out Philip: "I wish I uld e straight wh what I want to know. The scene's most gay flectn surpass the trigue Neil LaBute brgs to ntemporary theater, where gayns and sex are always dirty and certaly treats murr a ghoulish way (the weapon self be a fiendish joke), but s story of one-upmanship and tellectual warfare among a particular class of gay men is ultimately universal; shows extraordary sight, subtly observg mid-20th-century gay behavr.

PORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMSPORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMSPORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMSPORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMSPORTRAYAL OF GAY CHARACTERS HCHCK’S FILMS

Here's a portn of Ken's first-rate overview of Hch’s life a Sens of Cema article:"To gay actor/screenwrer Rodney Ackland (Number Seventeen) [Hch] nfid: "You know, if I hadn't met Alma at the right time, I uld have bee a poof.