07/26/10 - Rear Window

Rear Window (1954, 112 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/

I finally decide to check out a Hitchcock with Rear Window being my first. It fulfills two things: the first is to finally introduce myself to the director usually regarded as the best ever, and the second is it gives me another Jimmy Stewart movie under my belt which is what I had wanted to do this year.

The film follows L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) as he recovers from an accident. While recuperating he basically just watches his neighbors out his apartment window. The other prominent actors are: Lisa Carol Fremont (Grace Kelly), Jeff's girlfriend and wealthy socialite; Stella (Thelma Ritter), the nurse for Jeff while he's recovering; Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), the man Jeff watches with much suspicion; and Det. Lt. Thomas J. Doyle (Wendell Corey), Jeff's work friend and who he calls when he suspects Thorwald to be a murderer.

As I said above, this was my first foray into the world of Hitchcock so I was unfamiliar with many techniques and nuances that were used but that are probably easy to spot for a Hitchcock buff. All I really knew was that Stewart frequently appears in Hitchcock films, as do incredibly attractive blondes, along with a small cameo by Hitchcock himself. A moment on these first two things: Stewart and Kelly are simply amazing. Stewart I've seen only once but he seems so natural that it's just uncanny. When he explains his girlfriend problem to Stella it's just delivered in a way that seems exactly like how this conversation would occur in real life. Little stuff like this is what sets Stewart apart from most other actors in my opinion. Sadly, this little love problem of Jeff's is never really explored much beyond this conversation and a short conversation later with Lisa which is a shame. Kelly is also great as she makes me wonder why beautiful actresses and talented actresses are in distinct groups these days. Kelly perhaps soaks in Stewart's talents as she also gives off a great natural vibe. This actually contributes to the suspense in my opinion as it makes this not seem like two movie stars facing a problem, but rather two real people. It's like when I see Tom Cruise in a new movie now: very rarely do I see the person he's trying to be - it almost always ends up me seeing Tom Cruise starring as so-and-so which ends up being distracting. Stuff like that wasn't present here which was great.

Next, the movie is perfectly paced. I call what happens here the "Stairway to Heaven Effect" which is my own term for it because I have no idea what film aficionados call it. Anyway, by this I mean that the movie starts really slow and then gradually just builds and builds and builds and then explodes in a gigantic conclusion. There's never a dull moment once the movie gets going and I never got bored from watching. The suspense is relentless as every moment something new and intriguing could be revealed. Obviously, the moments when Lisa is in the apartment of Thorwald are the best since Jeff (who is already quite helpless) is made even more helpless as he has to watch from far away and just hope that Lisa can handle the situation appropriately. I had read enough about the movie just casually and had seen the television remake in 1998 that I knew enough of what was going to happen, but it's still a fresh experience watching how Hitchcock did it all originally. The ending wasn't perhaps as great as I was hoping for but the whole build up is what the film is about anyway so that's okay.

Easily the best thing that contributes to the suspense in the film though is the tightness of everything. While a lot of the action occurs away from Jeff's small apartment, all the dialogue and - more importantly - the camera almost all stay in there. The viewer is trapped here and it's constricting nature serves to put more pressure on the viewer. It's amazing how much is accomplished in this film with such an atypical movie set.

One other thing I'd like to comment on is the music. It's not even remotely appropriate to the film that's going on. But I really like this. I took as a way of saying that the music doesn't always match what's happening in life but I don't know if this was intentional or not. Whatever the case, I really liked the odd choice.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. Rear Window didn't disappoint me one bit. I expected greatness here from Hitchcock and Stewart and was completely satisfied.