Alfred Hitchcock amply demonstrates why he's been called "The Master of Suspense" with this both witty and macabre tale of voyeurism and murder starring two of cinema's all-time favourites, James Stewart and Grace Kelly. L.B. Jeffries (Stewart), a photographer with a broken leg, takes up the fine art of spying on his Greenwich Village neighbours during a summer heat wave. But things really hot up when he suspects one neighbour of murdering his invalid wife and burying the body in a flower garden.
Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock
Written by
Cornell Woolrich (short story "It Had to be Murder"); John Michael Hayes (screenplay).
Starring
James Stewart (L. B. Jefferies); Grace Kelly (Lisa Carol Fremont); Wendell Corey (Det. Lt. Thomas J. Doyle); Thelma Ritter (Stella); Raymond Burr (Lars Thorwald); Judith Evelyn (Miss Lonelyheart); Ross Bagdasarian (Songwriter); Georgine Darcy (Miss Torso); Sara Berner (Wife living above Thorwalds); Frank Cady (Husband living above Thorwalds); Jesslyn Fax (Sculpting neighbor with hearing aid); Rand Harper (Newlywed man); Irene Winston (Mrs. Anna Thorwald); Havis Davenport (Newlywed woman); Marla English (Girl at songwriter's party). Please contact SFC to add other cast members and characters.
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Genius, gripping, delightful film making
Mark Banks (United Kingdom)
Opinion: Recommended
If it were not for the fact that Alfred Hitchcock had directed this film, I wonder if it ever would have been made - I mean just imagine the director pitching the idea to the heads of the film company: 'well, there's this man, and he's in a wheel-chair, and he spends the whole film in one room, staring out of his rear window into his neighbours' rooms, and he thinks he witnesses a murder, and the film develops on from there'. Doesn't exactly sound gripping, does it? Yet the blend of simplicity, humour, suspense and curiosity for which Hitchcock is famous, make 'Rear Window' a classic among classics. I have to admit that until watching this film again recently, it had been quite some time since I watch it previously, and I had completely forgotten about the whole romantic sub-plot between Jefferies (Stewart) and Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly); and this adds a certain warmth and an additional dimension to the film that transform it into something more than the genre listings of 'Mystery' and 'Thriller' might on their own suggest. For a film that is 55 years old as I write this review, it has weathered time incredibly well; though there are a couple of 'special effects' towards the end that provide for some modern-day amusement. That said, they take little away from what is ultimately a master-piece in film-making and story- telling, and essential viewing for any and all film fans.
