Rear Window (1954)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Film Review

Along with Vertigo and Psycho, Rear Window represents the pinnacle of Alfred Hitchcock's career.  Meticulously constructed, daringly original and yet highly entertaining, this is a film which shows Hitchcock at his best, a true master of his art.   Not only is this one of the director's most popular films, but it is technically one of his most brilliant and it provides a textbook example on how a suspense film should be constructed for maximum effect.

Taking voyeurism as its main theme, Rear Window is a seasoned cinéaste's comment on cinema that is both witty and profoundly ironic.  Watching any piece of cinema is inherently a voyeuristic experience, something that feeds on our own deep-seated desires to watch others, without fear of being watched, in order to live through their experiences whilst sharing none of their physical or emotional pain.  We are compelled to keep watching, spellbound by our own curiosity and a morbid desire to see something that will shock and possibly sicken us, safe in the knowledge that if things get too hard to endure, we can just turn away our gaze and return to our own humdrum little world.  We are all voyeurs, whether we like it or not. 

What is particularly striking about Rear Window is that it functions at two levels of voyeurism.  First, with the film focused so intensely on James Stewart's character, Jeff, the audience is compelled to live through his experiences.  The spectator doesn't just identify with Stewart; he becomes him, since everything we see is seen through his eyes (the only exception being one mischievous shot where Thorwald is seen leaving his apartment with a woman who may or may not be his wife).  Then there are the characters who are being spied on.  As the story unfolds, these become the focus and we become more interested in them than in Jeff.  In particular, the Raymond Burr character, initially fingered as the villain, gradually becomes the victim, and ultimately our sympathies are torn between him and the nice guy Jeff, the man who has destroyed him.

Rear Window was based on a short story It Had to be Murder by Cornell Woolrich (a.k.a. William Irish), a popular American thriller writer whose novels were frequently adapted for cinema.  It also borrows some elements from the much publicised cases of two murderers, Dr Hawley Crippen and Patrick Mahon, in which Hitchcock had a particular fascination.  The film has plenty of the dark humour for which Hitchcock is well-known. This has the effect of relieving the tension but also emphasising the darkness of the subject matter, a supreme example of this being the notorious hat box joke.

One of the most remarkable things about Rear Window is the length of time over which it manages to sustain the mystery without losing the audience's interest.  In fact, it isn't until the denouement that we know for certain whether a murder has taken place or not.  It is entirely plausible that Thorwald is an innocent man, that his supposed crime is merely the product of Jeff's over-active imagination.  Indeed, we are torn between wanting Thorwald to be exposed as a killer - to reward our thirst for gory sensationalism - and a desire to see him shown to be the innocent the victim of Jeff's unwarranted intrusion.  This conflict of these opposing expectations is primarily what makes the film so suspenseful and compelling.

The main attraction of Rear Window for most audiences is the casting of James Stewart with Grace Kelly.  Personal favourites of Hitchcock, these two actors represented perfectly the two mainstays of his films - the ordinary man who gets out of his depth and the cool blonde who finds herself drawn to peril.  This exemplary duo is complemented by a superlative supporting cast, which includes Raymond Burr playing another familiar Hitchcock character, the sympathetic villain.  It has been commented that Hitchcock cast Burr because of his resemblance to David O. Selznick, the producer who lured him to Hollywood and with whom he had a very turbulent relationship.  Of course, Raymond Burr is known today the world over for his portrayal of Ironside and Perry Mason in two enormously popular American television series.  The sequence in which Burr finally confronts James Stewart is one of the most riveting and terrifying of any Hitchcock film.

As in Hitchcock's earlier films Lifeboat (1944) and Rope (1948), Rear Window is notable for its confined setting.  The entire story takes place within one room in an apartment.  Anything that happens outside this room is seen in long shot, from the point of view of the character Jeff, who is unable to move away from this room.  This is the ultimate development in Hitchcock's subjective approach to filmmaking, a device which the director exploits throughout his oeuvre to put the spectator in the position of his film's protagonist, thereby heightening the suspense and emotional impact.

An essential part of this film is its set, since this is crucial to the telling of the story.  Rear Window had what, at the time, was one of the most ambitious sets ever created for a film, built on the soundstage at Paramount studios.  To create the required height of an entire apartment block, the floor of the studio was removed and the set extended downwards into the basement. 

Thematically, Rear Window is one of Hitchcock's most complex films.  In addition the the voyeurism theme, there are three other elements, which recur in Hitchcock's work and reveal something about the man behind this film.  First and foremost, the film looks at the problem of the male-female relationship, in particular the apparent incompatibility of the two sexes in our modern, individualistic society.  Although Jeff is drawn to Lisa, emotionally and physically, he fears the consequences, and these fears are fed by what he sees through the windows of his neighbours.  The initial euphoria of a young married couple, who seem to spend all their time in the bedroom.  The boredom of an older couple who are more interested in their pet dog than in each other.  And then a couple who are older still - who bicker and fight and end up destroying each other.  Jeff also sees the alternative - the loneliness experienced by a young song writer and a middle aged spinster.  In this life, there is no happy ending for anyone, it would seem.  Perhaps the central motivation for Jeff's obsession with the Thorwalds is a need to prove to himself the toxicity of marriage, so that he can convince himself not to wed Lisa.

Another of the film's themes is a rather depressing comment on the way that urbanisation has led to a fragmented society and a breakdown in community spirit.   People may live closer together than they have ever done in the past, but they are also more detached from one another than ever before.  Men and women live alone or in pairs in their little cells, never communicating with their neighbours, each confined to his own little prison.  The only point in the film where there is any glimmer of social cohesion is when a woman hysterically cries over the death of her dog.  For a brief moment, the people living around the courtyard become aware of their neighbours.  But that moment is quickly forgotten and the barriers come down once more.

The film also touches on the topical (at the time) issue of feminism, illustrated through the reversal of the male and female roles.  In Rear Window, as in a fair number of Hitchcock's films (particularly his earlier films), it is the woman who is the stronger character.   The main male character - Jeff - is totally emasculated by his broken leg.   He is a passive player not only in the drama, but also in his relationship with Lisa.  By contrast, it is Lisa who is the active participant in all that we see.  It is she that resolves the mystery, moves the film to its terrifying climax, and ultimately gets her man.  Whether they lived happily ever after is of course a matter of some conjecture...

Film Synopsis

Injured on one of his assignments, magazine photographer L. B. Jefferies - known to his friends as Jeff - finds himself confined to his New York apartment with his leg in plaster and only his nurse Stella and girlfriend Lisa to keep him company.  He passes his time spying on the neighbours who live across the courtyard from his apartment.  He is amused by the antics of a pair of young newly weds, a middle-aged couple with a dog, an attractive ballerina, a lonely spinster and a struggling songwriter.  But what fascinates him most is the endless round of bickering between salesman Lars Thorwald and his invalid wife.  One evening, Jeff sees Thorwald leave his apartment several times and the next morning his wife has mysteriously disappeared.  Jeff is convinced that Thorwald has murdered his wife and is in the process of disposing of her body, but his police chum Tom Doyle dismisses the notion as fantasy.  Fortunately, the obliging Lisa is less sceptical and agrees to help Jeff prove that Thorwald is a killer...