# Looking for an Alfred Hitchcock movie \[shot in a single take\]... and others like it. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973 "2011-03-25T15:13:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973/41 "2011-03-28T22:54:53Z")
[Netflix: The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant](http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Bitter_Tears_of_Petra_Von_Kant/60024395?trkid=2361637#height8568) is almost entirely in one room and just a couple or three camera angles in that room. If I remember correctly there may be a couple of short scenes elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973/42 "2011-03-29T01:17:07Z")
_Rope_ actually has several visible cuts, in the sense that the camera angle noticeably changes, and that’s not even counting the opening shot, which is set outside the apartment building. We hear a man yell and the camera approaches a window on the top floor, then cuts to the interior where the victim has just expired. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973/43 "2011-03-29T03:56:35Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > I haven’t seen it, but the movie you’re thinking of is [Timecode](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220100/). It sounds intriguing, but I don’t know how successful it would be. _Timecode_ is impressive because it does the feature-length single-shot conceit while also using multiple locations with many scenes occurring in the van as they follow the heist crew from one area to another. The movie itself, though, is dumb dumb dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973/44 "2011-03-29T05:46:32Z")
Coincidentally enough, Farley Granger, star of “Rope” (as well as the infinitely better “Strangers on a Train”) died today: [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118034555?refCatId=25&query=Farley+Granger](http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118034555?refCatId=25&query=Farley+Granger) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973/45 "2011-03-29T08:28:16Z")
> [@beagledave](#): > > Probably the best long tracking shot in recent history..Atonement. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5dqmUgu0SI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5dqmUgu0SI) Ouch. Never saw the movie but I sort of wish you had mentioned them shooting horses in it =( I had to stop watching it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973/46 "2011-03-29T09:18:55Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Ouch. Never saw the movie but I sort of wish you had mentioned them shooting horses in it =( I had to stop watching it. They shoot extended sequences, don’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973/47 "2011-03-29T12:31:06Z")
Rouben Mamoulian’s name prompted me to offer [Isn’t It Romantic](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGNQ7TrVDrg) from _Love Me Tonight_. No, it’s _not_ one take or one shot–just skillful editing that uses one song. Beginning in cynical Maurice Chevalier’s Paris tailor shop & ending with Jeanette McDonald on the balcony of a chateau. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973/48 "2011-03-29T12:54:40Z")
> [@beagledave](#): > > And for comparison…“T[he Ten Best Tracking Shots Ever](http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2007/09/the-ten-best-tracking-shots-ever/)” These are all Hollywood films. There are lots of absolutely wonderful tracking shots that have been left out. Theo Angelopoulos, Tarkovsky, Herzog (wonderful shots in Fitzcarraldo, for instance), Visconti (Il Gattopardo), Polanski (Cul-de-sac), Satyajit Ray, Alain Resnais (Last year in Marienbad), Bela Tarr (Werkmeister Harmonies) etc. have all made wonderful tracking shots. Not entire films, though, but certainly long enough to qualify for such a list. And don’t forget [this beauty from Soy Cuba](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYFXv6bDIY8)! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-alfred-hitchcock-movie-shot-in-a-single-take-and-others-like-it/575973.md?page=2)