Rear Window
Category
Mystery
Director
Alfred Hitchcock
Cast
- James Stewart
- Grace Kelly
- Thelma Ritter
- Wendell Corey
- Raymond Burr
- Judith Evelyn
Release Date
1 August 1954
Synopsis
No one can deny that the king of suspense is Alfred Hitchcock and his work in Rear Window has been the consistent topic of praise, critique, debate, and endless study well into the 21st century. Adapted from the short story "It Had to Be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich, Rear Window explores the voyeuristic tendency of man and the power of vivid overimagination all in a quest to discover the truth.
The story revolves around the handicapped photographer L.J. Jeffries played by James Stewart. Forced to remain by his window, he develops an obsession for watching his neighbors' day-to-day activities. From his view he can see the desperate and lovelorn Miss Lonelyheart, the dancing Miss Torso, young newlyweds who hardly stir from their beds, and the man he suspects of murder, Lars Thorwald, salesman and husband to an invalid Anna Thorwald. But his suspicions are laughable to his gorgeous gal Lisa (Grace Kelly), nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter), and dismissed by friend and investigator Thomas Doyle (Wendell Corey). But Jeffries nevertheless pursues his unverifiable notions, as Hitchcock keeps his audience in suspense.
Alfred Hitchcock's genius takes root from his fascination with the truth, and he masterfully shows this in his choice of shots and images. What separates Rear Window from other voyeurism-themed flicks is his risky choice of working with a first person point of view. Relying only on Jeffries' perspective turned out to be a brilliant idea because this further deepened the mystery of the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Thorwald, and it also heightened the increasingly tense atmosphere throughout the duration of the movie. Hitchcock only strays from this angle towards the end, and this too is an excellent choice, and ties up whatever has been unraveled earlier.
Aside from Hitchcock's deeply thought out movie-making process, his actors also add to the layers of subtext of this film. Jeffries precise movements and the nature of his relationships provoke one into delving deeper into the psychological make-up of this film. It's no wonder that Rear Window has an amazing staying power even if it's been decades since it first intrigued us.