L.B. Jeffries, known as “Jeff” to his friends, is an in-demand photographer. He’s traipsed through jungles and battlefields, but is sidelined in his small New York apartment after suffering a broken leg. The only company he has is an insurance company nurse named Stella and his sophisticated girlfriend Lisa. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, Jeff begins to stare out his window. It is a sweltering hot summer and everyone has their windows open. Jeff’s idle curiousity turns into a daily habit of watching his neighbors’ humdrum affairs.
The neighbors are an odd mix that Jeff nicknames. The Composer is a frustrated songwriter living across the way. Miss Lonelyhearts is the sad lady who longs for affection, while Miss Torso, a pretty dancer, has no shortage of gentleman callers. One couple sleeps on their fire escape and hauls their dog up in a basket at night, while a housewife tends to her child and cat. The Thorwalds are an unhappily married couple and it is they who land Jeff in a mess of trouble. Mrs. Thorwald is an invalid and she and her husband quarrel regularly. Jeff wakes up one day to discover she has disappeared, ostensibly to visit family in the country, according to her husband. Jeff is convinced that Mr. Thorwald has killed her.
Stella warns Jeff against spying on his neighbors. The more Jeff becomes obsessed with the idea that Thorwald has killed his wife, the more Stella decries his actions. Lisa and police officer friend Doyle think Jeff has too much time on his hands and that a reasonable explanation can be found. After the housewife’s cat is found dead, Jeff realizes the cat had been digging in Thorwald’s much cared for garden. He believes Mrs. Thorwald is buried there. Lisa and Stella begin to believe Jeff, leading them all to a confrontation with Thorwald that nearly costs Jeff his life.
There’s something to the idea that if there is such a thing as economy of language, Rear Window might be a good representation of economy in film. There are four major characters and while Hitchcock takes detours by showing the rest of the neighbors, you rarely hear any of them speak. Most of them have a few shots devoted to them. Simple, yet effective, since some of the saddest moments in the movie are from the neighbors. Miss Lonelyhearts in particular has an awful moment, where she is so desperate for companionship she sets a romantic table for two and pretends that someone is having dinner with her. Failing to keep the artifice up, she collapses in sobs, not knowing Jeff is watching her.
Not a lot of time is spent on backstory or explanations. One scene is shot where the camera focuses on Jeff’s leg, then moves to a broken camera, then to a photograph on the wall of a race car accident where the car appears to be about to hit the photographer, and finally rests on a stack of magazines. In fifteen seconds, Jeff’s livelihood and the reason why his leg is broken are explained and the film moves on.
Aside from all this, Jeff and Lisa are having fights about whether or not to get married. The neighbors provide interesting counterpoints, from the unmarrried and lonesome Miss Lonelyhearts to the miserable Thorwalds. Jeff fears their incompatible lifestyles will lead to a no good marriage, but after Lisa does some amateur sleuthing at high risk to herself to help Jeff, he’s convinced enough that she’s the girl for him.
Nearly all the shots are from Jeff’s apartment, leading to a strange feeling of voyeurism and claustrophobia; the viewer sees what Jeff sees. The more Jeff watches, the more obsessed he becomes, pulling out binoculars and telephoto lenses, mirroring what the rise of the viewer’s interest in the residents of Jeff’s neighborhood should be.
Stewart is the main talent here; he plays Jeff as a likeable guy with perhaps an unlikeable interest in those unaware of his presence while ignoring similar traits in those he knows best. Even when Jeff is not doing the best of things it’s easy to understand why he’s doing it. Grace Kelly as Lisa is much weaker until the last third of the movie, when she appears much stronger. Thelma Ritter as Stella is snappy fun, for the most part and Raymond Burr plays the menacing Thorwald creepily well.
It also helps that, you know, Hitchcock was a freaking genius. Plus with neat lighting and beautiful costumes by Edith Head, the whole thing looks pretty as hell.
Rear Window is very much a movie of its time, meaning to people of my generation it may feel dated. No television is featured; Jeff at one point delays Thorwald from choking him by blinding him with flashbulbs, a technology long since passed since flashbulbs were good for one use only. (Watching Stewart attempt to change the flashbulbs quickly keeps one on tenterhooks.) This is not a criticism but merely an observation.
It’s routinely given four stars and with much cause. Rear Window is a beautiful suspense movie that is not perfect, but gets pretty damn close.
great piece! I wouldn’t say it’s dated at all…I mean, look at how big of a hit DISTURBIA was, which is essentially the same movie.
Kind of a pity that to get younger audiences to watch a classic story, you have to transpose it in such a way.
I wouldn’t say it’s dated at all…I mean, look at how big of a hit DISTURBIA was, which is essentially the same movie.
Well, the story’s still fresh – I don’t doubt that, and yes, Disturbia was essentially a Rear Window remake. But a lot of the technological aspects and everything make the film feel kind of old.
Story’s still Grade A stuff, though.
I would liken it to a lot of movies you see from the ’80’s that look slightly dated because of computer technology, or how audiences 30 years from now will view movies made right now due to technological and communications advances.
Kind of a pity that to get younger audiences to watch a classic story, you have to transpose it in such a way.
Indeed. Have you heard they’re going to remake Harvey? I mean… just trying to get people to watch a black and white flick these days is like pulling teeth.
Firstly, let me say thanks, you have inspired me. In the six months I have been blogging I haven’t done anything about Hitchcock. What shall I go for? Probably one of my favourites; North by Northwest or Vertigo.
Rear window is a brilliant film and you have captured the essence of it really well. Hitchcock films are so often a study of what someone will do when put in an extraordinary situation (North by Northwest, Foreign Correspondent, The Man who knew too Much, The 39 Steps to name a few) This is a study of what some one will do in a very mundane situation with only boredom to drive him. The story is cleverly twisted so you don’t always know if he is right or just paranoid.
You observations about the film being of its time is true but in a way that is part of the appeal. When a person is in peril in a modern film, the film maker has to invent a reason why their mobile phone doesn’t work as it is taken that everyone has one.
Caitlin said. “just trying to get people to watch a black and white flick these days is like pulling teeth” Very true. The Psycho remake is possible one of the most pointless exercise ever undertaken. I actually think the same is true of subtitled films, many viewers will happily watch a crappy remake oblivious to the original.
I love, love, love Rear Window! This was the movie that rocketed Grace Kelly into the top three of my “Old Time Hollywood Actresses That I Have a Crush On” list. Great dialogue and wonderfully filmed.
I once rode on a bus with me mum, also a big fan of this film, and we had a bus driver who looked exactly like Raymond Burr did in Rear Window. We were both honestly a hair creeped out by this.
Good review. Rear Window is my favorite Hitchcock film and without doubt one of the finest American films ever made. Like Hitch’s other single-location films – Rope, Lifeboat, and Dial M For Murder – his control of perspective and limited space is fantastic. Although I couldn’t just have one Hitch film on my top 10 single location movie list Rear Window did find its way to the top!
I love Lifeboat! Rear Window is a personal favorite just because Jimmy Stewart is the man, and it’s subtly creepy without being over the top.