Rear Window

Thankfully cinemas are playing some old films so that now I can slowly work my way through some of Alfred Hitchcock's more popular films on the big screen.

This is one of those films that has been referenced comedically and seriously so many times that I feel like I have seen the film already. It was most cleverly referenced in an episode of 'The Simpsons' which is why I had trouble watching the film 'Distrurbia'. But the real thing has a very different feel.

Like many of his films you get a certain feeling when watching an Alfred Hitchcock film that you are in the hands of a master film maker. Someone who knows what they are doing and can tell a story well. That is very much the case here. Hitchcock only used one sound stage build an apartment complex set. This way it is all contained within the one area. It lets him move his camera around in one take shots and he can control the weather. A perfect example if the opening of the film which is a tracking shot around the complex as we see all the various occupants and then around our hero's apartment and we learn who he is and why he is stuck there. What I also loved was that in addition to the main story we have a lot of other little stories going on involving the other people in the building. It was so cleverly integrated into the main story.

James Stewart is one of those actors who has a certain presence which lends a great deal of credibility to all the films he is in. Not that an Alfred Hitchcock film needs that but it makes his character more believable. You trust him and all that he says. Despite doing all the work sitting in a wheelchair James is brilliant. As I said his mear presence is enough. He does not need to do much to make his character credible. It very rarely happens that I am totally blown away by the beauty of a woman when watching a film. But that was the case here with Grace Kelly. We first see her from James Stewart's POV as his character is waking up and it was an amazing film entrance. Her character of Lisa is interesting because while she and Jeff are pretty much broken up she manages to stay around to help Jeff with his crazy theory of his neighbour being a killer. It must be the lure of being a voyeur. This must also be the reason he ropes in his nurse played by Thelma Ritter. Thelma plays the naturally nosey type character you see in films like this. I was amazed at the performance of Raymond Burr. We all know him from the TV series 'Perry Mason' but he does not speak much here and is all action as he plays the potential killer.

It is not a tension filled thriller like many of Hitchcock's films. But is it a simple story told in a brilliant way by master film maker.