Why is rear window so good

Neighbors like each other, speak to each other, care if somebody lives or dies! But None of You Do! Far from peering in at other people and staying anonymous, it seems like it involves reaching out to others. That entails being vulnerable and candid — transparent even — so others feel comfortable entering into your life. Like Stella says, sometimes people need to go on the outside and look in for a change. If nothing else that breeds empathy. Well, anyways, Rear Window still stands as my favorite Hitchcock picture and one of the most clinical and compelling thrillers of all time.

But you probably already knew that. If you did not, I implore you to break both your legs if need be, lock yourself in a room, and force yourself to watch it right this minute.

What other films are prime examples of visual cinema that can be appreciated on multiple levels? Also, what other films effectively utilize limited space? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below! Become a Member and support film journalism. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about cinema - get access to our private members Network, give back to independent filmmakers, and more. Join now! Tynan loves nagging all his friends to watch classic movies with him.

Follow his frequent musings at Film Inquiry and on his blog 4 Star Films. Soli Deo Gloria. In "Rear Window," Jeff is not a moralist, a policeman or a do-gooder, but a man who likes to look. There are crucial moments in the film where he is clearly required to act, and he delays, not because he doesn't care what happens, but because he forgets he can be an active player; he is absorbed in a passive role.

Significantly, at the end, when he is in danger in his own apartment, his weapon is his camera's flashgun; he hopes to blind or dazzle his enemy, and as the man's eyesight gradually returns, it is through a blood-red dissolve that suggests passion expressed through the eyes. Kelly is cool and elegant here, and has some scenes where we feel her real hurt.

She likes to wear beautiful dresses, make great entrances, spoil Jeff with champagne and catered dinners. He doesn't notice or doesn't like her attention, because it presumes a relationship he wants to elude. There is one shot, partly a point-of-view closeup, in which she leans over him to kiss him, and the camera succumbs to her sexuality even if Jeff doesn't; it's as if she's begging the audience to end its obsession with what Jeff is watching, and consider instead what he should be drinking in with his eyes--her beauty.

The remote-control suspense scenes in "Rear Window" are Hitchcock at his most diabolical, creating dangerous situations and then letting Lisa and Stella linger in them through Jeff's carelessness or inaction. He stays in his wheelchair. They venture out into danger--Kelly even entering the apartment of the suspected wife killer. He watches. We see danger approaching. We, and he, cannot move, cannot sound the alarm.

This level of danger and suspense is so far elevated above the cheap thrills of the modern slasher films that "Rear Window," intended as entertainment in , is now revealed as art. Hitchcock long ago explained the difference between surprise and suspense. A bomb under a table goes off, and that's surprise. We know the bomb is under the table but not when it will go off, and that's suspense.

Modern slasher films depend on danger that leaps unexpectedly out of the shadows. And surprise that quickly dissipates, giving us a momentary rush but not satisfaction. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from until his death in In , he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Raymond Burr as Lars Thorwald. James Stewart as L. Grace Kelly as Lisa Fremont. Thelma Ritter as Stella, the nurse.

And her performance is greatly enhanced by the outfits designed for her by Edith Head. There are also several recognizable character actors who play bit parts as the inhabitants of the buildings across the courtyard, the ones whose lives we intrude in on. You can check out the entire cast list here. Here, our hero is also a villain.

Like L. Jeffries and us, for instance. That point happens when he witnesses what should have been a private moment concerning Miss Lonelyhearts, a deeply painful episode to watch. Later he goes further — is proving a murder has taken place sufficient reason to cross that line? What if watching were to clear a man of suspicion? Therein lies the dilemma — for him and for us.

Well, Rear Window lets no one off the hook. Rear Window gives us an answer in the end concerning Jeff, at least. We know Jeff should not have been watching other people — and in fact, Jeff has nothing to say to Thorwald when asked why he did it.

And so, when the story concludes we see Jeff has paid a price for his violation. Justice is served. As for us, Hitchcock made this film to quench our thirst for peeping. However, he felt it was something no one could help doing if the subject was compelling enough. We see that happen with both Stella and Lisa in the film.

Despite their initial judgment of Jeff, they are rendered unable to look away before long. Hitchcock was known to say that we have at our core both a deep attraction to violence and an instinct to enjoy fear and he shows that through the rear window. The mere fact that we so enjoy the claustrophobic journey he presents to us here is proof he was right.

How he creates suspense on demand with not a shot left to chance — how he ensures we see exactly what he wants us to see, hear exactly what he wants us to hear in every single frame — how in the final moments, as footsteps are heard climbing stairs approaching me Jeff my heart races as much as it ever has in a movie.

It just all works. Every single last manipulative inch of it. Hitchcock was more controlling than anyone else I can think of, down to the last, minute detail — the shift of an eye, the close-up of a ring, the reflection off binoculars, which, by the way, is as wondrous an illusion to me as any ever contrived for a motion picture, greater than anything CGI can ever do. I must shake my head. So anyway, using techniques like long, silent sequences as in the opening I described , POV shots and abrupt editing, things Hitchcock fans have seen countless times, he renders us completely immobile with Rear Window.

Just as L. Jeffries is immobile. His confinement is ours. Created by relying almost entirely on the camera to move the narrative forward and force emotion. All of those are the reasons why the way Alfred Hitchcock chose to show us this film is, in effect, much more important than its story. They are the reasons why, according to director Martin Scorsese, Rear Window is viewable and enjoyable over and over and over again.

It is pure cinema. Everything in it worthy of praise — the sets , the colors, the lighting , the music. From the first frame to the last — in Rear Window Hitchcock gives us what we can only get in the movies.

Be sure to visit for a lot more reading about Alfred Hitchcock and his impressive filmography. Terrific post. I may stop blogging! I think calling it voyeurism is too strong. In the end he nails a murderer. Wish we could sit and discuss this one for a couple of hours, Vienna. I think the murder in incidental. Reblogged this on Outspoken and Freckled.

I just KNEW you had impeccable taste!!! It took me forever to get this post to sound even remotely coherent because I wanted to say so much. It truly is a movie that keeps on giving. It appeals to the voyeuristic quality in all us cinema fans.