Cinema as an art form owes its popularity and very existence to the fact that human beings tend to enjoy experiencing things, people and situations they are not likely to encounter in their normal lives. That natural curiosity becomes especially appealing in situations that don't require physical contact nor have any direct consequences. That lack of immediate contact or consequences is often enough to turn some banal, ordinary images and situations into interesting experiences.
This psychological phenomenon was until recently branded as nothing more than a sexual anomaly called "voyeurism". In the modern world, the success of tabloids and reality TV shows like Big Brother indicates that voyeuristic tendencies have more universal appeal and that they cannot be brushed off as mere sexual perversion. One of the cinema authors who understood that and based some of his greatest films on it is Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window, his 1954 thriller, often cited as one of the greatest films ever made, could be seen as a kind of ode to voyeurism.
The film is based on the story by Cornell Woolrich and screenplay by John Michael Hayes. The plot takes place in a single Greenwich Village apartment, occupied by L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (played by James Stewart), an adventurous photographer who broke his left leg while trying to make an action shot during a motor race. Now he is wheelchair-bound in his little apartment. His only form of entertainment comes from the rear window, which provides an excellent view of the apartments surrounding the courtyard. Because of the summer heat and lack of air conditioning, most of the windows are open and the shades never closed, so Jeff can watch the private lives of his neighbours almost all the time.
This provides insight into many real-life dramas, including an unhappy marriage between jeweller Lars Thorwald (played by Raymond Burr) and his nagging, bed-ridden wife. That drama becomes most interesting after Mrs. Thorwald disappears, and Jeff is soon convinced that her husband murdered her and began disposing of the body. His old friend and police detective Lieutenant Thomas J. Doyle (played by Wendell Corey) doesn't share Jeffries' suspicions and demands more proof before he could launch an official investigation. On the other hand, Lisa Carol Fremont (played by Grace Kelly), a glamorous fashion consultant and Jeff's love interest, and his nurse Stella (played by Thelma Ritter) are more open-minded and volunteer to help him gather evidence.
Rear Window was made by Hitchcock during the zenith of his career – the 1950s and early 1960s – a time when he became an object of worship among film critics and established the cult following he enjoys to this day. This film clearly demonstrates why Hitchcock enjoys such a reputation. As in many of his classic thrillers of that period, a relatively simple mystery plot is an opportunity for Hitchcock to deal with some more interesting topics like alienation or aberrant sexuality. In fact, this film explores sexual themes with a boldness quite unusual for 1950s standards. Many of the real-life dramas that entertain the protagonist explicitly or implicitly deal with twisted sexuality – a newlywed young man (played by Rand Harper) must deal with his wife's sexual insatiability; Miss Lonelyhearts (played by Havis Davenport) can't express her own sexuality; Miss Torso (played by Georgine Darcy) is an exhibitionist; a couple who sleeps on the fire escape (played by Sara Berner and Frank Cady) uses their dog as a surrogate for children, implicitly suffering from sterility; a struggling songwriter (played by Ross Bagdasarian) is suffering from writer's block which could be read as a metaphor for impotence. Even the protagonists have problems that could be viewed as sexual – Jeff, apart from his obvious voyeurism, is also faced with impotence, while his glamorous girlfriend might be viewed as cold, distant and frigid. Hitchcock, whose best films dealt with various forms of sexual aberrations, explored not a single, but many of such phenomena.
Another of Hitchcock's trademarks in his golden phase was an inclination towards experiment. Rear Window represents exactly one such occasion when he decided to use an unconventional film structure. The entire plot takes place in a single room, and the audience is able to witness only events seen and heard by the protagonist. To make an interesting, exciting film in such circumstances might represent an unsolvable problem for any less experienced director, but Hitchcock managed to produce not only one of the best films of his career, but also one of the most successful experiments in the history of cinema. The secret of his success was in the superb use of editing and clever manipulation of the viewer's expectations – suspense is gradually increased through seemingly banal events of everyday life.
The voyeuristic effect is increased with Hitchcock's wise decision not to use Franz Waxman's original music except in the credits. Such music would have been too distracting, and Hitchcock finds an alternative in radios which play popular 1950s songs in the background – these songs can sometimes be used as an ironic comment on the plot, but they mostly add to the utterly realistic atmosphere of the film. While today's filmmakers would make this film cheap by shooting on location, Hitchcock was fortunate to enjoy the benefits of the largest indoor set in the history of Hollywood. Thus the film could be meticulously planned down to the most insignificant detail, and Rear Window is therefore, in a strictly technical sense, one of the most perfect films in the history of cinema.
Another of Hitchcock's trademarks is his ability to extract the best out of the actors at his disposal. One such actor was James Stewart, then in the latter stage of his career, when he successfully transformed his all-American on-screen personality in order to play darker, imperfect and more complex characters. His Jeff is just one such character – when we meet him, he has already established himself as an irresponsible adrenaline junkie, and his reluctance to burden himself with a permanent relationship makes him even less appealing. His actions in the film are at first caused by boredom, but afterwards his crusade against a potential murderer is nothing more than an excuse to satisfy his more down-to-earth voyeuristic impulses. Until the truth is discovered at the end of the film, we can't be sure whether an innocent man might suffer because of Jeff's boredom, voyeurism and too much imagination.
Grace Kelly, another great Hitchcockian actress, again shows that she could be more than just a pretty face. Her role of a stunningly beautiful, glamorous, but distant and cold woman becomes more complex when Lisa Fremont becomes infected with her boyfriend's voyeurism and adrenaline addiction. The same can be said of Thelma Ritter, a talented supporting actress whose character of a preaching nurse goes through a similar transformation. Wendell Corey as Jeff's sceptical friend is also good, as is Raymond Burr as a down-to-earth but therefore even more menacing figure of a potential murderer.
The only possible argument against Rear Window as a perfect film might be found in Hitchcock compromising his original idea and allowing some scenes not to be shot from Jeff's window. But this little and unnecessary nit-pick shouldn't deprive Rear Window of its well-deserved position among the best thrillers ever made.
RATING: 9/10 (++++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on September 15th 2000)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/567-rear-window?language=en-US
Critic: AAA