10 Underrated Movies By Great Directors

As touched upon in the introduction, Alfred Hitchcock didn't take home the Academy Award For Best Director for any of his fifty five features, British or American. Instead he was bestowed with an honorary Oscar in 1968 for his prolific career as a whole. Given the considerable passage of time since his heyday, many of his works have slipped into obscurity, known to most only as accompaniments to the likes of Psycho, Vertigo and North By Northwest in boxsets.

From Frenzy to Topaz, many of these fit the definition of underrated. Rope stands out in particular, not only for the unorthodox filming methods that the 'master of suspense' chose to utilise, but for the fact that it was largely ignored upon its release and has only garnered any manner of recognition in retrospect.

Filmed in just ten shots (with the cuts cleverly disguised), each averaging eight minutes of the film's eighty minute run time, Rope's compelling plot plays out on a singular set, focusing on the 'perfect murder' of David (Dick Hogan) committed by Brandon (John Dall) and Philip (Farley Granger) and their subsequent hosting of a dinner party attended by both family members of the deceased and their former school master Rupert (James Stewart)

Essentially daring the guests to suss their ruse as they discuss David's absence and the 'art of murder', Rope unravels with great suspense, with Stewart delivering a performance comparable to any of his other Hitchcock collaborations.