REAR WINDOW (1954)

[MrErdnase]

Very thrilling. Very riveting. Disturbing in many psychological levels.
Truly, it is what you don't see that scares you - this adage is
personified in this movie. I loved Lisa's character arc, as she tries
to draw Jeff's attention away from spying on Thorwald. She was in
denial, trying to prove Jeff wrong all the time. But a moment before
that scene fades out, she's very well hooked into what might have
happened across as well. And hey, we even see her and Stella - Jeff's aid audaciously dig in the
apartment's garden across. And Lisa - once cynical and
couldn't care less gets to a point when she even ascends through the fire escape. And watch this
very thrilling scene as Jeffrey's could only scream his girlfriend's
name and watch in horror. Hitchcock said to always make the audience
suffer as much as possible - we do suffer as a helpless and disabled
audience as well in these scenes I am talking about.

If PSYCHO was creepy enough - you'll get some of those eery moments in
REAR WINDOW too, but more psychologically than visually or graphically
portrayed as they talk about the clues to Mrs. Thorwald. You don't see
any of these of course - but what your mind imagines or visualizes is
far more terrifying than anything you'll see in this film.

Notice that there's no score that is scored for this film so all the music is diegetic. And the illusion of safety. Apart from being terrified psychologically because of knowing the things that have happened to Mrs. Thorwald, we think WE or Jeffreys is safe from across. But in the end - this feeling of safety of course is just an illusion.

Grade A+

[Pen Dragon]

Now you've done it

* Pen pencils in Rear Window on his list of next DVD's to buy*

A masterpiece. The goriest movie I ever saw and there's not one drop of blood in it. Hitchcock's finest piece IMO. Very tense and psychological, gives a naughty finger wag to voyeurs everwhere.

As good as Jimmy and Grace are, Thelma Ritter gets the best lines.

One of the true great films

[writerly]

love, love this film. it's always on my summer movie list. i hate it when films are compared to REAR WINDOW, because no one yet has seemed able to master Hitchcock's ability to actually create - suspense. agree pen, masterpiece.

[phoenixwriting]

This film is high on my list of films I'm going to force my children to watch when they get older.

Make of that what you will. :D

[Architeuthis Dux]

I also give this a positive review (but in truth I don't like it as much as I like Vertigo).

Raymond Burr makes a terrific bad guy.

[DUCPHO]

And don't forget that it was damn hard carrying all those dismembered body parts downstairs in a suitcase!:lol

[Loaded 4 Bear]

And don't forget that it was damn hard carrying all those dismembered body parts downstairs in a suitcase!Dude! How about a spoiler warning?! :lol

[Biohazard EHW]

I'd say this is probably hitchcock's best movie. Perfect in every way.

[kojled]

mr e

agree totally. very fine story. one of my favorite scripts to page through. writing is of a style long dead. today's movies are mostly plot driven - it's a bit sad.

if i could only watch one movie for rest of life, i'd have to go with rw. hitch's best


zilla

[LostDogma]

Visually, Hitchcock could always do much and the amazing thing with Rear Window is he does it with so little.

On a side note from the DVD commmentary, originally, there was going to be a scene, early on, that took place outside of the apartment building, but Hitchcock was talked out of it - I'll have to watch it again to remember who - I think it was the production manager who talked him out of it (but I could be pulling that out of my ass.) But Brilliant! Never left the building.


Just for the sake of irreverence: it's Die Hard if McClane had a broken leg and there were no terrorists... :) Think about it, there are some, albeit, weak parallels.

[MrErdnase]

It was the assistant director. They were supposed to shoot his L.B. Jeffries's editor in his office in another set... but the AD asserted that they shouldn't leave Greenwich village.

So, they shot the scene anyway but only used he audio and cut it together for a phone conversation between Jeffries and the man, but just there in his apartment.

They never leave the Greenwich village set.

[Pencey]

What I found most fascinating was the subplots going on around the murder...

Ms. Lonelyhearts who went from being alone to finding a man.

The couple having marital problems who still ended up together in the end (I'm hazy on this one but it sounds right)

The songwriter who was having trouble writing a hit and then finally gets it right in the end.

The blonde bombshell who's courted by all these dashing men but is only happy when her "geeky-looking" sailor boyfriend comes back into town.

...all of these commented on the subplot going on between Jefferies and Lisa.

Today, the studio suits would probably want to cut all this nonsense out cause you know...it'll bore the kids. :rolleyes

[Pen Dragon]

true that

[bottomlesscup]

Also, Grace was super hot.

[LostDogma]

Thanks, Mr. E. And BC, yes, Grace was so f-ing hot in that movie - as in normal life - but it almost was a bit of a stretch that Stewart's character had any hesitations regarding her even with her high fashion lifestyle.

BTW what I do remember from the commentary was that the screenwriter John Michael Hayes got to spend a week just hanging out with Grace Kelly to help him write her character. What a f-cking job.

[MrErdnase]

Yeah, cos Hayes mentioned that Grace was so stiff, so he threw around lines for her to say to help her get into the character that Hayes was about to scribe...

Throughout the movie, you see Lisa going to extremes - the bravest extremes just to win Jeffrey's love but watch the character arc or the realization of how futile that might be when she replaces reading HIGH ON THE HIMALAYAS with the HARPER BAZAAR MAGAZINE. She, although brave must have been young and foolish early on. And in that last shot, she's made a realization.

Oh, Cary Grant in TO CATCH A THIEF is just as lucky as James Stewart (although his character doesn't know he's lucky) in REAR WINDOW because Grace Kelly's characters in both these movies sincerely love both those male protagonists in the said films.

[Pen Dragon]

Grace was eye candy with average acting ability. She's above average in Rear Window though; her best performance.

[Evil Elf the One and Only]

PEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






You don't own this?




Shocked! Shocked, I Say!!! (http://terminalcity.diary-x.com)

[Pen Dragon]

I did on VHS. But I sold my collection on Ebay 4 or 5 years ago because I really hated VHS and wanted to change over to DVD. There are quite a few titles I had on VHS I'm still to get on DVD. Vertigo is another I'm yet to replace

[Edison Vandall]

Should have been a musical.

[Adam Isaac]

Brilliant, elogant, ravishing, and rivoting. This is favorite technicolor Hitchcock film.

I've nothing but high admiration for this classic. And as a sidenote watched last night for about the 22nd time.

Grace Kelly makes me feel drunk with her voice, appeal, and style.......aaahhhhh........mmm-mmm.....those old school dames.

[Pencey]

Grace was a true "lady." Ain't many of those around anymore.

[Erdnase]

:eek: It was the head buried on Thorwald's pet flower bed! After all, that's the only thing that would fit in a hat box, right?

[SethMace]

I saw this film only recently and of course i watched it with huge expectations because of its "classic" tag and to be honest, i was blown away by it. I've always found the older movies harder to get into (especially the ones that have a good rep) but i found RW totally charming and ingenious.

The type of film i think many of us admire & aspire to.

[s1eve]

^ Same, I just recently watched it. Absolutely loved it.

[Kelsey]

^ Same, I just recently watched it. Absolutely loved it.

I just saw this a few weeks ago. My english teacher is a film lover and we are currently doing a film unit in my class. I really enjoyed it just watching it, but once we took two to three days just analyzing it, I liked it a thousand times more than I did in the first place. I had never seen a Hitchcock film, so I had only heard great things. Instead of being disappointed like I so often am when people talk things up, I felt the total opposite.

[s1eve]

It was refreshing to watch it given the diet of crap hollywood films I'm been on lately.

[Authorized]

Kudos already stated about Hitchcock's original Rear Window.

Rear Window 1998 TV remake - Christopher Reeve, Daryl Hannah, Robert Forester - it was a bust...

And I hear on the streets of Wilshire that a Rear Window remake is in stealth mode development for a theatrical release. Why do it?

[RRStroud]

A wonderful movie.

I read something very telling and hilarious in Creative Screenwriting or a similar magazine a few years ago. The person being interviewed said, "If they were making Rear Window now, they would probably have the man and the woman screw in the wheelchair." :o

[Biohazard]

"If they were making Rear Window now, they would probably have the man and the woman screw in the wheelchair."

That's the only reason why anyone would want to see it remade.

[andlary1]

I saw this movie when I was a little girl. Not until I saw again in my 30s and again in my 40s did I realize what a sexy movie this is. That's how subtle sexuality was played.

Adults seemed so adult in movies then. Twenty-five year old women in the fifties like Kelly (Jackie Kennedy), looked older, but not aged, just sophisticated and I don't know, sexy. Not vapid, or dumb like a lot of them do now. More together, less pedestrian?

This is one of Hitchcock's best for me.

A

[Pencey]

BTW what I do remember from the commentary was that the screenwriter John Michael Hayes got to spend a week just hanging out with Grace Kelly to help him write her character. What a f-cking job.

These days directors would just say, "Here's your check. Now go home."

[NePatsFan]

Not my favorite Hitchcock film, but up there. The cinematography in particular is beautiful in Window, but not as beautiful as Grace Kelly.

[Jake Schuster]

"Rear Window", "Vertigo" and "Shadow of a Doubt" are for me the finest of Hitchock's work.

[Adam Isaac]

This is one of the best films ever made. Seen it probably 20 times.

:cool:

[Adam Isaac]

"Rear Window", "Vertigo" and "Shadow of a Doubt" are for me the finest of Hitchock's work.

Yeah, I like all of those. Notorious is my favorite.