Review of Rear Window (1954) by Brendan C — 02 Mar 2013

Rear Window is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, and one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. It is tied with Silver Linings Playbook as my 7th favorite film of all time. It is a total masterpiece of film making, and it is one that must have been amazing to make from a directors point of view. Hitchcock has had a lot of films that I would have loved to experience from his point of view, but if I could go back in time and be him for the making of one of his films I would choose Rear Window because it must have been fascinating for him. I think that because it was fascinating just to watch the movie, because it felt like you were really there. It felt like you were spying on all of the neighbors that he was spying on. That is why it is such a remarkable movie, because you feel like you are there, and because it is original as it gets. I imagine that Hitchcock must have felt like he was watching real people going through their lives in one room the entire time.

What is so remarkable about the film is how it all takes place in one mans apartment, and how you can only see inside of his home, and what he can see out of his rear window. The plot and character development is very unique and remarkable. A photographer with a broken leg cannot leave his apartment, and he must sit in a wheelchair and look out at the neighbors. Because of how hot it is nobody will close their windows so he can spy on everybody, and he gets to know all of his neighbors, and what they are up too. He even names certain people. There is one lady who he calls "Mr.'s lonely heart" because she is always pretending to have a man over and then starts to cry in the middle of it. There s also a ballet dancer who he spies on, who he calls "Ms. Torso". My favorite thing is the musician who lives up stairs. You hear his piano playing throughout the entire movie, and at one point Hitchcock makes a cameo and he is with the musician. He throws a party and you can tell he is trying to make it to the radio. There are newly weds who have moved next door, and there are also two people who sleep on the fire escape stairs. Somehow the neighbors who are innocent seam like something would happen to them. Hitchcock made the things with the neighbors suspenseful, and you will know what I mean by that when you see it. Well the film is really slow, so it can develop the relationships between characters, and the lives of his neighbors.

The man's name is L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart), and he is the peeping Tom who stares out the Rear Window all day. It starts off one the first day of his last week in a cast. He has a girlfriend named Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) who is beautiful, sophisticated, and a bit of a celebrity. He doesn't think that she is right for him, because her high-class sophisticated life doesn't blend with his working class life. He doesn't think she will be able to be with him for that reason. It is actually more of a thing where he doesn't think that he is good enough for her. The develop that more as the story goes, and I didn't pick up on how they developed it the first time I saw it.

He also has a nurse named Stella (Thelma Ritter) who comes in to take care of him everyday while he is recovering. He is so bored and all he can do is spy on the neighbors, and she makes fun of him for being a peeping tom. Lisa also makes fun of him for that, but she eventually begins to take an interest in the man that he is spying on and so does Stella.

The man they are spying on in particular is a man who looks like he probably just murdered his wife, and looks very suspicious. He makes several trips in the middle of the night with a briefcase, and is using things like saws. All of this is causing Jeffries to get very suspicious, and he even contacts the police, but the won't do anything because that isn't convincing or good enough to get a warrant.

The thing about the film is that you know the guy killed his wife, so the suspense isn't who did it, did he do it. It is how are they going to prove this, and how will it end. The ending is unpredictable until you get to it, and the suspense at the end is crazy, and tremendous. The first hour and twenty minutes were good, and interesting but the rets of the film is crazy and awesome. That is why I love the film so much. It is so fascinating. It is also beautiful and peaceful at first. The neighborhood is very nice and peaceful, and it is beautiful at sunset and at night. The film makes me feel happy, at peace, and it puts me on the edge of my seat. It is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film, and I love a lot of his films so that says a lot. What a genius, and I think that this film really shows how he was the master of suspense. The ending of the film was probably one of the most suspenseful, and on the edge of your seat endings of all time. Such a phenomenal movie. The only two Hitchcock films that challenged this one for being my favorite were "North By Northwest," and "Psycho." But they are entirely different. Also his best films always have James Stewart in them. Well the best ones usually either have James Stewart, Cary Grant, or Grace Kelly in them, so if you want to get into Hitchcock know that the ones you should watch always have one of those actors in it. There are only a few of his absolute most amazing films that don't have them in it like "Psycho," "The Birds," and "Strangers On A Train.".

He was really good at having people in one small setting for the entire film. He did that with "Rope," and "Lifeboat." But he perfected the idea of having an entire movie in only one place with this film.