Rear Window (1954 movie)

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Released: 1954
Country: United States

Main cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Wendell Corey

Genres: Thriller,  Mystery

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Review

Alfred Hitchcock creates a suspenseful, scary, and thrilling atmosphere in his masterpiece, ''Rear Window''. This is another great movie Hitchcock made. With ocassional humorous touches, ''Rear Window'' is almost a perfect thriller film: scares, thrills, suspense, mysteries- all are in this film.

James Stewart plays a Jeffries ''Jeff'', photographer with a broken leg, and has to stay in his apartment for two weeks. Since he has almost nothing else to do, he sees what his neighbors do all day. The neighbors keep their curtains open since it is too hot. He amuses himself by watching all these, and one day, he comes to suspect, because of a number of reasons, that a neighbor, Lars Thornwald (played by Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. His girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) and nurse Stella  (Thelma Ritter) comes to believe him and helps him to find out what has indeed happened. And as time goes by...

There are multiple subplots in this film, all regarding Jeff's neighbors. One neighbor, nicknamed Miss Lonelyhearts (Judith Evelyn), is a very lonely woman. Another, nicknamed Miss Torso (played by Georgine Darcy) is a good dancer and he sees her dancing every morning. Another is a songwriter (Ross Bagdasarian). A couple (Frank Cady and Sara Berner) owning a cute little dog. And also, a newlywed couple (playing Rand Harper and Havis Davenport).

We see most parts of these subplots with Jeff's eyes, we see what he sees his neighbors doing. The camera work is simply awesome. And the presentation that the film has is simply wonderful. The whole film takes place on the neighborhood of Jeff, and almost all the scenes take place in Jeff's house. As I mentioned before, we see his neighbors and their activities throughout the film, but those scenes doesn't take place in the houses of the neighbors. Instead, we see all these through the point of view of Jeff.

The first few scenes of the movie move a bit slowly, as we are introduced to Jeff, his girlfriend Lisa Fremont, his nurse, Stella, and his neighbors. But then, the moment Jeff comes to suspect that his neighbor has killed his wife, the movie actually gets far more interesting. It slowly gets scary, mysterious, suspenseful and thrilling. Humorous touches are present here and there.

As Jeff, James Stewart is, in a word, great. Grace Kelly plays his girlfriend, a lively and brave young woman. As the caring nurse Stella, Thelma Ritter is perfectly superb. Wendell Corey gives considerable support as a detective whose help Jeff takes. And as Lars Thornwald, a good performance is given by Raymond Burr.

My conclusion is simple: Watch this movie!!! Full of entertainment, thrills, suspense, mystery, and scares, ''Rear Window'' is a great choice if you want to watch a good thriller film. Excellently made by the brilliant Alfred Hitchcock, this is, without a doubt, one of his best films.

4.5 out of 5