274. Rear Window (1954)

Directed By Alfred Hitchcock

Synopsis

A photo-journalist has a broken leg stranding him in his apartment for seven weeks, entertaining himself by engaging in some voyeurism, by the end of the sixth week he witnesses suspicious activities in one of the apartments that he entertains himself watching.

Review

This was a fun film, there are two qualities in Hitchcock that I really admire, the first of these is his great dark sense of humour, this is a funny film. Another one is Hitchcock's capacity to create fully rounded minor characters, not just minor but almost insignificant characters are fully rounded.

Rear Window is possibly the best example of this second quality, the fully developed ecosystem behind Jeff's house is something amazing, you are following the life of seven apartments, eight if you count Jeff's, and only the events in two of them are significant to the wider story, Jeff's and the one where the murder has supposedly happened. Hitchcock makes you follow 6 other stories for no reason except make the film alive, and that is more than reason enough.

The film is nearly perfect, Grace Kelly is dazzling, Thelma Ritter is funny, there is a conspiratorial tone running through the whole thing between the three main characters that just makes you a part of it. This is a film that really drags you in, keeps you on the edge of your seat and is a great work of art... what more could you want. It entertains and educates.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Alfred Hitchcock appears briefly onscreen in the film as the man winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment as the songwriter is performing the piece that he had been working on during the course of the film.

One of the great screen entrances by Grace Kelly: