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Rear Window [1954]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window is both confined and multileveled: its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbours. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behaviour glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to what may be a murder.

Photographer LB "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is, in fact, a voyeur by trade, a professional photographer sidelined by an accident while on assignment. His immersion in the human drama (and comedy) visible from his window is a by-product of boredom, underlined by the disapproval of his girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), and a wisecracking visiting nurse (Thelma Ritter). Yet when the invalid wife of Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) disappears, Jeff enlists the two women to help him to determine whether she's really left town, as Thorwald insists, or been murdered.

Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto convincingly argues that the crime at the centre of this mystery is the MacGuffin--a mere pretext--in a film that's more interested in the implications of Jeff's sentinel perspective. We actually learn more about the lives of the other neighbours (given generic names by Jeff, even as he's drawn into their lives) he, and we, watch undetected than we do the putative murderer and his victim. Jeff's evident fear of intimacy and commitment with the elegant, adoring Lisa provides the other vital thread to the script, one woven not only into the couple's own relationship, but reflected and even commented upon through the various neighbours' lives.

At a minimum, Hitchcock's skill at making us accomplices to Jeff's spying, coupled with an ingenious escalation of suspense as the teasingly vague evidence coalesces into ominous proof, deliver a superb thriller spiked with droll humour, right up to its nail-biting, nightmarish climax. At deeper levels, however, Rear Window plumbs issues of moral responsibility and emotional honesty, while offering further proof (were any needed) of the director's brilliance as a visual storyteller. -- Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com


5-star Hitchcock
Review date: 2008-09-18 Rating: 10 out of 10

I don't really have anyhting to say about this film but, having just rewatched it, I do feel like adding to the praise. It's such a good film.

Mesmerising. The complex set is ingenious. James Stweart is wonderful. Grace Kelly is gorgeous. The mystery reels you in and the suspense is built very skillfully, leading to a truly nail-biting climax. I like the clever way the neighbours' lives reflect the lives of Jeff and Lisa. Beautiful (very colourful) restoration, too.

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Reviews


The British touch in American cinema
Review date: 2008-08-14 Rating: 10 out of 10

This film has become a cult film with time. Everything seems to be at that level though the situation and plot are rather light. What is important here is that Hitchcock transforms this back yard and garden surrounded by buildings all around and a highly voyeuristic microcosm into a complete vision of human society with all its dramas, and its pleasures and joys. To transform such a small microcosm entirely closed onto itself into a vision of the whole society we hardly get a couple of glimpses of through an alley opening onto the main street is marvelous and amazing. The second phenomenal fact is that the main actor is a wheelchair-ridden man with a severely broken leg in a cast. How can the whole world completely turn and whirl around that sole man? It is only possible because it is absolutely seen through the only eyes of this man or the eyes of the people standing next to him. There is only one instance when the point of vision is not his own eyes but a point outside in the yard-garden: at the end when he is being dropped from his window and then we get for a very short period of time the vision from the cops' eyes. This gives to that film such a personal dimension that it is nearly sickening: we have the impression of invading the privacy of that man. In fact what I have just said is false because he alternates what the man can see and close-up shots on him to show his personal reactions to what he has just seen. This constant alternating of voyeuristic sequences from the eyes of one man and close-up shots on his body language and language forces us into his own skin, body, bones. We are no longer voyeurs but ghosts in him seeing through his eyes. We are the direct witnesses of what he sees because we see it with him, through his own eyes and we start feeling the same emotions as he does. Of course everything is seen through the camera, but Hitchcock even uses some tools to emphasize the voyeuristic dimension and force us into it: a camera with a zooming lens that is so big that the camera becomes minuscule, or binoculars that are of course too big for the distance across the back yard and later the flash bulbs to force us not to see through the eyes of the murderer but to be seen through the eyes of the murderer. The last point I would like to insist on is that Hitchcock shows a murder but he is not interested in the murder per se but in the reactions of the witnesses, those who see everything and how they are blind to what they see. Then he builds up the slow recognition in their eyes, language and behavior, and then they become obsessive about it, to the point of becoming if not courageous at least unconscious of the risks they are taking or running. That too is remarkable and that nearly makes us get out of the simplistic voyeurism I have spoken of all along and climb into some kind of distantiation from the penned up impression of before, a distantiation that leads us to the idea that courage in a human society is often the result of a conviction that makes us blind to the danger or risk we are facing. Courage is the result of a lack of consciousness more than intensified consciousness. This is the human dimension Hitchcock always brought to his films. And that is kind of lost in our modern action films that do not have one single second now and then to just rest and digest what has happened before.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


simply THE PERFECT FILM
Review date: 2008-07-22 Rating: 10 out of 10

Rear Window boasts amazing talent and superb direction from Hitchcock which makes this not one of,but the best film by him and one of the most perfect films ever made.
Rear Window combines all the dark humour and atmosphere needed to make a film a rewarding experience and not only that...a supreme atmospheric thriller that relies entirely on tension and pace.
with all the twists and turns you wont know how it all ends up...and makes you anticipate its rewarding conclusion.
the idea of one setting is very clever and it makes the film work a treat.
Rear Window contains the great performances by Grace Kelly and the amazing James Stweart.
it is a wonderfully unique film and demands viewing by everyone.
i love the film and watch it whenever i can and see something new in it almost every time.
it is fantastic and you will be on the edge of your seat the whole way through and will have you attempting to find out just who the murderer is.
it provides chilling scenes that will make you say"oh,go,oh,god"and that is just what the master wants you to do.
the tension is of course the secret that makes this a perfect example of fantastic filmaking.
watch it again...and again.
you wont ever get bored.

One of the best Hitchcocks
Review date: 2008-06-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

This film is amazing! It builds into an incredibly taut, well paced film. The suspense is handled masterfully and what starts as a mad theory builds into an impressive case. The tension here is as well done as anything I've seen - very strongly recommended.

"We've Become a Race of Peeping Toms"
Review date: 2008-04-11 Rating: 6 out of 10

It's summer in New York, but L. B. "Jeff" Jefferies (James Stewart) is trapped in his apartment with a severely broken leg. Aside from the daily visits from his nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) and girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly), his only diversion is watching the people in the apartment complex out his back window. And since it is the middle of a horrid heat wave, everyone has their window open at all times.

Late one night, Jeff witness something funny going on across the way. The invalid wife in one of the apartments has vanished and the husband (Raymond Burr) is taking many trips out of the apartment carrying something in his suitcase. Jeff quickly assumes the wife was murdered. Enlisting Lisa and Stella's help, he tries to prove it. But is he right? And can he prove it without leaving his own apartment?

I seem to have a weird relationship with Hitchcock. I don't enjoy the movies everyone considers his masterpieces, but I do enjoy his lesser known films. In keeping with this tradition, I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. The beginning of the film was very slow as the many side stories were set up. Even once the main story got going, I still found it rather slow for my tastes. The ending, however, was exciting if a bit predictable. And the acting was great, bringing the characters to life.

I'm definitely going to keep watching Hitchcock's films. But I'm going to explore all his films to see which ones I think are his best. I doubt that this one, while not his worst, will make the list of his best either.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Georgine Darcy
James Stewart
Grace Kelly
Wendell Corey
Thelma Ritter

Creators:
James Stewart (Primary Contributor)
Grace Kelly (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
EAN: 3259190257429
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2005-10-17
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 109 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1954
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: German (Original Language)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)

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