Hitchcock at his finest

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2011)

Imagine a hot summer in New York City in the pre-air conditioned 1950s. Now imagine apartment buildings surrounding a courtyard, all windows open at night, trying to catch any breeze. It's so hot, some put bedding on their fire escapes and sleep outside. Now fill in the blanks between the parts of the residents' lives you've seen through wide open windows and what you no longer see.
Jeff (James Stewart) has all the time in the world to do that; he has to wear a hip-to-toe cast on one leg for 7 weeks, repairing the leg he'd broken in his usual job as a professional action photographer (sports, mountain climbing, wars, etc.).
His visiting nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), daily attends to his basic needs--food, cleaning, etc. Lisa (Grace Kelly) also comes; she's a well paid fashionista exec, in love with Jeff, but their life styles (& incomes) are so different that Jeff is very leery of the marriage she obviously wants.
Jeff, since wearing his cast, won't sleep in bed. He's too taken with his voyeurism, his place by his window watching the various lives unfold in the various apartments within his view and imaginatively filling in the blanks when he can't see them; he sleeps in his wheel chair. He (and we) occasionally see the newly wed couple who often draw their shades despite the heat. And "Miss Torso," a shapely ballet dancer, who practices, practices, practices--and sometimes entertains male friends. "Miss Lonelyhearts," about 35-45, we know fantasies having a man in her life because she practices entertaining an imaginary man at dinners she cooks. There's the musician who keeps trying to write a great song. And a traveling jewelry salesman (Raymond Burr) whose bedridden wife is demanding and never appreciative of his attempts to serve her. When his wife suddenly vanishes and Jeff sees him disposing of a saw and knife, Jeff suspects the worst.
Jeff tries to convince Lisa and his nurse, but they initially think he's going overboard. He also tries with a detective friend (Wendall Corey), his WW-II flying buddy, but with worse results.
Eventually, with several increases in suspense somewhat relieved by humorous bits, all the various narratives are resolved: the salesman and his wife, Miss Torso, Miss Lonelyhearts, the musician---and even Jeff.
The casting couldn't be better. The screenplay artfully makes us, the viewers, along with Jeff, into very similar voyeurs, eager to fill in the same blanks. Immensely satisfying to most (IMDb voters rank it Hitchcock's best; it's an Ebert Great Film; 100% of Rotten Tomatoes critics rate it "ripe"), it builds suspense throughout but, nicely, lacks any doses of horror that lead to nightmares.
A true masterpiece.