Review of Rear Window (1954) by Uditha D — 22 Nov 2011

Rear Window has the best Peeping Tom in a film - James Stewart's L. B. Jeffries, the photographer who never minds prying into the concerns of others. And just how this shapes the film is shown in one instance - at a crucial time during the night that Thorwald murders his wife, Jeffries falls asleep. It's crucial because that's the point which might have implicated Thorwald as being the murderer without all the trouble Jeffries and his troupe had to go through - the point where Thorwald may have called specialists to gruesomely dispose and cut apart his murdered wife's body. So Jeffries HAS to be the constant sleuth.

Having said that, it isn't just Jeffries' obsession that make this an enjoyable thriller. It's how it becomes contagious as well. Thelma Ritter reprimands him for being too much a Peeping Tom; after he concurs Thorwald may have killed his wife, she quite willingly and openly becomes a peeping Jane. So does Jeffries' girlfriend Lisa Fremont, elegantly played by Grace Kelly with the aid of Edith Head's glamorous gowns.

Rear Window may not be Hitchcock's best, but there's no denying that commercially, it was Hitchcock's greatest triumph. It made more money than any of his other films, and it arguably explored the themes of obsession the best way possible - subtly, silently and deftly. I don't think that even after what Jeffries' pays for having known too much (2 broken legs), he will ever be deterred from unmasking a Communist conspiracy, provided of course that he senses the conspiracy from his own rear window!