Rear Window (1954)

Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: John Michael Hayes (script), Cornell Woolrich (short story)
Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly

My father introduced me to Hitchcock films when I was in middle school, starting with Pyscho. I keenly remember the small video store in Kansas we would frequent, with its bulky, brown plastic VHS covers. I loved horror films, and Hitchcock was definitely a master, so I thank my dad for the introduction.

The other night I was hanging out with two girlfriends pondering what to watch when one of them mentioned a classic, maybe a horror movie. "Do you have any Hitchcock?" she asked.

Do I have any Hitchcock!

I didn't want to go with the obvious Pyscho, nor what I consider his masterpiece Vertigo, so I asked if they'd seen Rear Window. Neither had, and I got to enjoy the movie again with two people who had rarely, if ever, seen Grace Kelly on screen.

Rear Window's brilliance can be surmised simply by how often its premise is replicated in modern thrillers. But none can match the Hitchcock pieces together this mystery, with cunning shots and clues only for the viewer's eyes.

James Stewart plays a photojournalist recently injured and holed up in his New York apartment for six weeks with a broken leg. The window in his apartment overlooks a whole community that loves leaving their shades open - explained easily by the summer heat. He begins to suspect one of his neighbors of murdering his invalid wife and keeps his binoculars trained on the apartment looking for clues. The other characters in the complex add sympathy (Miss Torso, Miss Lonelyhearts), and also become conversation points for his girlfriend that stops by frequently.

His girlfriend (Grace Kelly - probably mostly just playing herself), is a Park Avenue society girl who is unbelievably beautiful and wears designer gowns just to sit in his apartment. Craggy Stewart remarks on how she's not fit for the life he intends to lead of photographing wartorn villages across the globe. But she believes his story about his neighbor, and soon starts doing all his dirty work outside of the apartment.

The movie works slowly, but that's what I love about Hitchcock and classic films - movies these days act like people don't have any sort of attention span. And I understand that a lot of people don't, but there's no need to do away with slow-building tension! There's time to think, which is necessary in this type of storytelling - you have all the clues laid out for you, how will you make your conclusions? Do you agree with Stewart? Do you agree with his detective friend who doubts him? My friends and I debated throughout watching, which added more fun to viewing it with people who hadn't seen it.

The truth and the culmination are a thrilling payoff, and certainly deserved it's Best Screenplay Academy Award nomination. Stewart and Kelly are great, and the directing superb. One of the best Hitchcock films.

The Best: Kelly's entrance scene. I've never seen an actress' beauty illuminated more brilliantly than when Kelly's face comes into focus on screen, first from a side angle then full-on from the front - meant to feel like a dream Stewart's having, and actually wakes up to. Kelly's make-up, beauty, and costumes in the film are all breathtaking!

Fact: There's a sheen on everybody's faces in the movie, since it's supposed to take place during the middle of the summer in New York. It all seemed very realistic, but upon further investigation apparently it was also all real heat: one-thousand arc lights were used on the set to simulate daylight, and once during the movie the amount of heat they produced set off the set's sprinkler system!

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)