I was really fascinated by this movie, not necessarily for the plot, but definitely for the technical achievements. I absolutely love the one long shot technique. It was a little shaky at times, but I think it was appropriate for the story. It really goes through the stages of murderers directly after the they kill someone. Brandon and Phillip are at first very excited and exhilarated. Then one starts getting cold feet and soon and the two start spinning into very different attitudes. The singular long-shot allows you to follow their downward smile completely. The technique does have its drawbacks, namely when the film roll runs out and they need to change it. While he tried his best to keep them from being too noticeable, Hitchcock still had to allow from some rather awkward shots.

Since Hitchcock was obsessed with the strange, the element of homosexuality in the script definitely attracted him. It was more obvious directly in the beginning, right after the murder of David. They maintained an intimate feeling throughout the entire film. The two assumed roles similar to those of any relationship, where one dominates the other. Brandon was the more dominant one. He seemed both smarter and more in tune to the philosophies they were preaching.

It is interesting though that Hitchcock would choose to do this film, since the real story it was based on was much less “brilliant”. Based on the idea of the Loeb and Leopold Case, in which two men of the upper class and of “prodigal” intelligence decided to practice upon the teachings of Nietzsche and committed the murder of fourteen-year-old Robert Franks in 1924. The two were documented to have high IQ's and at the age of eighteen and nineteen had already received their bachelor's degrees. However, despite having reportedly spent seven months planning the murder, the two were caught within two days. According to the case report, a pair of glasses were found near the body that were specially made for only three people in the entire city of Chicago, one of them being Leopold. After reading this, I was honestly a little disappointed since they were supposed to be terribly brilliant, but I suspect that is why Hitchcock not only did not confirm the connection to the actual case but also focused solely on the psychological effects of the murder on the two killers.

There were only a few of the small things that typically marked a Hitchcock film. They did drink brandy in the film, but the lead actress was not a blonde. Also, there was no mother actually present in the film. She was only an implied character, though, and yet she still managed to have a really oppressive presence; always checking on her husband and her son.