Rear Window is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films. It stars his Rope leading man Jimmy Stewart and it manages to one-up that movie. In Rope, Stewart didn’t leave the room. This time, he can’t leave his wheelchair.
Stuck at home with a broken leg, Stewart grows antsy. To pass the time, he takes to spying on his neighbors. One day, he witnesses one of his neighbors commit a murder, or at least so he thinks, which causes him to peep on him even more.
Stewart is excellent in a deceptively difficult performance. Since most of the movie depends on his reactions to the goings-on across the street (curiosity, bemusement, fear, etc.), he effectively serves as our window (no pun intended) to the suspense. In addition to Stewart, the film also reteams Hitch with his Dial M for Murder star, Grace Kelly, who looks effortlessly beautiful. Thelma Ritter is a hoot as Stewart’s cantankerous nursemaid and the banter between the pair is often hilarious. Raymond Burr gives a chilling performance as the prime suspect and the creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks, Ross Bagdasarian also appears as a musician neighbor.
Rear Window finds Hitchcock fully leaning into his voyeuristic tendencies. The subject has always been a part of the Hitchcock dynamic, but here the subtext becomes text. Since we spend the whole movie with Stewart, the audience becomes virtual co-conspirators with him. I’m particularly thinking of the scenes where he leers at a sexy neighbor he dubs “Miss Torso” dancing in her underwear.
What’s so much fun is how Kelly and Ritter get caught up in the drama. A lot of bland scripts would’ve wasted a lot of time with no one believing Stewart. While that is initially the case, it doesn’t take long before they become just as curious as he is.
The view outside the window is mesmerizingly orchestrated. The comings and goings of the various neighbors going about their day unaware that they are being spied on while in constant motion doesn’t feel choreographed. In fact, the view almost becomes a living, breathing character in the film.
In short, it’s a must-see.
Hitch’s next was To Catch a Thief, which also starred Kelly.
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