This must have been a killer to make

Rating: 10/10 (2 July 2011)

This is an excellent movie and I still don't know how Hitchcock was able to pull it off so well. Multiple sets on camera in the same frame and still not confusing or disjointed.
It is also one of his most funny and entertaining pieces and that is another accomplishment given the dark subject matter. It could have been a morbid and nauseating film with the wrong tone but, he keeps it light and still doesn't lose a lick of the tension.
There are so many scenes here that are aces but one favorite is when Jeffries' detective friend visits him to tell him that he is wrong in suspecting foul play. Several things goes on in the scene at once and it is so well written. The looks that Stewart and Corey give each other are priceless.
Thelma Ritter as the nurse is brilliant and it's a shame that she wasn't really acknowledged more for the part. Grace Kelly was excruciatingly beautiful but you couldn't really see her as much more than that. She stopped acting before she developed into an accomplished actor. Her best scene is at the beginning when she realises that Stewart won't marry her.
The best part is of course played by Raymond Burr and as was intended, he does resemble David Selznick. It almost creepy how much he looks like Hitchcock's boss. I wonder how Selznick took it. It is a very difficult part too, virtually silent and incredibly menacing.
You could go on and on about the meaning of the whole thing. One thing comes to mind, though. This is a movie that virtually defines what a movie is. Perceptions, reactions, conclusions and all that defines great art. It's all here.