“The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them.”

Join us on Friday, August 13 as we celebrate the birthday of the “Master of Suspense,” Alfred Hitchcock, with a prime time double feature of two of our favourites from his incredible body of work: ROPE and VERTIGO. See one, or see ’em both for one sweet price!

ROPE, Alfred Hitchcock‘s first color film, was adapted from Patrick Hamilton‘s stage play “Rope’s End” by no less than Hume Cronyn. Loosely inspired by the Leopold-Loeb case, the plot concerns two implicitly homosexual college chums, played by Farley Granger and John Dall. Their heads filled with Nietzschean philosophy by their kindly professor James Stewart, Granger and Dall kill a third friend just for the thrill of it. The boys hide the body in an antique chest in the middle of their posh apartment, then perversely arrange to hold a dinner party around the chest, inviting the victim’s family, friends and fiancee (Joan Chandler), as well as their intellectual role-model Stewart. As the guests wander obliviously around the sealed chest, the killers make snippy, veiled comments about their deed–never going so far as to reveal the existence of the body nor their involvement in the murder. As all the guests file out, however, professor Stewart begins to suspect that something is amiss. In ROPE, Hitchcock attempted the daunting technical challenge of filming the entire picture in one long, seemingly uninterrupted take. Actually, there are several edits in the movie: since a reel of film was divided into two ten-minute minireels back in 1948, the internal reel-breaks are “fudged” by having a dark object briefly obscure the camera lens, sustaining the illusion that no editing has taken place.

“ROPE is not merely a stunt that is justified by the extraordinary career that contains it, but one of the movies that makes that career extraordinary.” (The New York Times)

Friday, August 13
Doors 5:35 pm | Movie 6:05 pm *Sharp! Please arrive on time. Start time subject to change.
Tickets $15 advance HERE | $15 at the door

Looking to make it a double bill night with VERTIGO at 8:00 pm? See ’em both for one sweet price!
Advance double bill tickets $20 HERE | $20 at the door

Due to reduced capacity, advance tickets are recommended for all shows to ensure seating. Online sales for every screening automatically end 1 hour before any given showtime.

*Minors permitted in the balcony. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
*Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK for any single film screening only. Please redeem at the box office.
*If you are looking to redeem your tickets to either a canceled Rio Theatre screening or a Rio Theatre gift certificate, please email <[email protected]> with info including your name, canceled receipt number, gift certificate info, what you are wanting to see and when, and we can make the switch for you in advance. Alternately, you can bring this information with you to the venue, and we will do our best to help you at the box office.

ROPE (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948 / 80 / PG) Just before hosting a dinner party, Philip Morgan  and Brandon Shaw strangle a mutual friend to death with a piece of rope, purely as a Nietzsche-inspired philosophical exercise. Hiding the body in a chest upon which they then arrange a buffet dinner, the pair welcome their guests, including the victim’s oblivious fiancée and the college professor whose lectures inadvertently inspired the killing.