"Rear Window" Turns 70

Rear Window is my favorite Hitchcock film. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, it always grabs me and doesn’t let go until the ending credits roll. It’s at once a movie of wide scope and complex intimacy.

I always hesitate to write about films like this because everyone writes about films like this, and I don’t feel as if much can be added to the conversation except for piling on more kudos.

For those who might not be familiar with Rear Window, it’s based on a 1942 short story by Cornell Woolrich, It Had To Be Murder, and follows photojournalist L.B. Jeffries, who’s laid up at home with a broken leg. He’s a week away from having the cast taken off, and the cabin fever is intense, so much so that he’s considering dumping his gracious and wonderful girlfriend, Lisa, because he thinks she’s too perfect and won’t be happy coming along with him on his assignments.

Then Jeff observes some strange happenings in the apartment across from his. Mrs. Thorwald, an invalid, is suddenly gone and her husband is seen rifling around in his wife’s favorite handbag. Jeff thinks Mr. Thorwald committed murder.

Naturally, Jeff has to convince Lisa, his visiting care nurse, Stella, and his detective friend, Tom, the latter of whom is the toughest nut to crack. I can’t say too much because I don’t want to ruin anything and Rear Window deserves to be discovered.

Part of the appeal of the film is that it’s based around seeing what we’re not meant to see. Jeff looks out of his window and observes the various dramas playing out. There’s Miss Torso dancing around her tiny apartment. There’s Miss Lonelyhearts trying in vain to fill her solitary days with companionship. There are the newlyweds who have just moved in and keep their shades drawn, with the husband who occasionally peeks out to have a cigarette or two.

We, along with Jeff, feel slightly wicked at spying on people who don’t know they’re being watched, but they’re nothing either of us can do but let it all happen. What will it take for people to be shaken out of their own little boxes and take in what’s gong on around them? Quite a bit, and then nothing will be the same ever again.

I saw Rear Window on Wednesday night with a theater audience that included my son, who needed to watch the film for his American Film Masterpieces class, and for the entire length of the film the audience was dead silent except for a few relevant gasps and other notes of surprise and shock.

When the ending credits rolled, the audience applauded.

How many of them had seen the film before? Who knows. It doesn’t matter anyway. Of the half-dozen Fathom screenings I’ve been to so far this year, I can’t remember the audience applauding at any of them. Maybe at The Wizard of Oz, but that’s about it.

Hitchcock would be proud.

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Rear Window is playing in select theaters and is available on home media. Not rated.

My grade: A+

Principal Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Wendell Corey, Raymond Burr, Judith Evelyn, Ross Bagdasarian, Georgine Darcy, Sara Berner, Frank Cady, Jesslyn Fax, Rand Harper, Irene Winston, Havis Davenport, Jerry Antes, Barbara Bailey, Benny Bartlett, Nick Borgani

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Written by John Michael Hayes and Cornell Woolrich (original short story)