Just finished watching it for the first time, and I thought it was more "contemporary" than most of Hitchcock's work. Particularly the ending is very chilling and ahead of its time: with Stewart standing guard over the chest, the two perpetrators in the background doing what is in their nature as they listen to their impending doom (the outside world being let in to judge them). It's fantastic. I would say it's the earliest "modern" ending to a film I've encountered.
People seem to be arguing that it somehow features stilted acting and were disappointed at the lack of an elaborate plot. I thought it was pretty clear from the start these were two amateurs that had no idea what they were doing, but had delusions of grandeur (the one of them at least). The contrived pseudo-intellectual dialogue was clearly intentional, seeing as how these were a collection of individuals that fancied themselves to be "elite thinkers" and "higher" members of the human race. Over the course of the film, we are shown just how much of a folly their ideas and their philosophies and posturing are. Everyone at the party is performing for one another out of a sense of keeping things amicable (sound familiar?), and given the strange circumstances surrounding the events, it makes sense that it all seems forced and phony. People ARE forced and phony. That's why the one guy is getting such a kick out of the whole proceeding: he sees himself and his companion as finally stepping out of that world, and is lording himself above it, playing everyone for fools as they dance for him. Only the harsh reality that is brought upon him is that he's actually not above it at all. He's just like the rest of them, doing his own performance that matters for naught as he too will be judged.
The film holds up fantastically well. I actually first came on here to see if anyone had been discussing how contemporary it felt considering when it was made. The only thing that I find really distracting is when they can't more seamlessly transition the long shots. A few are well done, but a few more are quite obvious. However, seeing as how Birdman (which was made just last year) couldn't get around that perfectly either, I won't say that's a dated sort of thing, but just an issue with attempting a "single-shot" movie thing. But overall I'd say this is one of Hitchcock's best.
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