A Classic

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2000)

Wheelchairbound Photographer James Stewart spends all day and night spying on neighbours from his "Rear Window". Believing he has witnessed a murder in apartment opposite he tries in vain to alert others to the vile crime.
This film was way ahead of its time and is even more amazing in the way it tackles the relationship between men and women in a time when in thrillers men where the boss and women screamed. were kissed and did little else.The mere mention of sex was not an option in hollywood movies. The way Kelly invites herself to stay at the apartment and is the more active in suggesting an obvious sexual relationship must have been shocking for the time.
In a way, the role of manly male and feeble frightend female are reversed. James Stewart although desperate to maintain his credibility as a man, is a mere onlooker on the microcosm of society that is represented by the closed block of apartments that he inhabits. By contrast, his girlfriend Grace Kelly is fearless and inclined to action once she begins to believe also, that a crime has been committed.
The callous way that Stewart rebuffs the obvious sexual advances of Kelly adds to the impression that deep within Stewarts psyche he believes that without the ability to control events he is not a man.
The photography is superb, from the way that you see the lives of the other inhabitants from a distance through their ever open windows, (haven't these people heard of curtains?) but in silence, apart from the ever present music of the composer, trying to finish his film score.
Raymond Burr as the suspected villian is superbly sinister, but James Stewart really showed what a magnificent actor he was by shedding the tough guy image and taking on a role that took guts in real life. For me the most frightening part of the movie is when Kelly is discovered in the apartment opposite and Stewart is powerless to help her. This reminds me of all those nightmares when you are powerless to move and avert disaster.
Grace Kelly is possibly the most gorgeous woman ever, and has that innocent yet woman of the world quality that most guys would gladly jump over cliffs for.
A Classic.