Best Hitchcock ever

Rating: 10/10 (10 November 2013)

IMHO this is the best Alfred Hitchcock movie ever made. It is even better than Psycho which I consider one of the greatest movie of all times. It is often imitated but never duplicated. And every time it's referenced, there is no doubt that it's this movie that is the originator.
Photographer L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) is stuck at home in his New York apartment after breaking his leg while getting a shot. He does nothing but look out his rear window. He suspects his neighbor Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) of murder and enlists the help of his gorgeous girlfriend Lisa Freemont (Grace Kelly) and nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter).
This takes place all in the same place inside his apartment. First it allows for the voyeuristic tendency in everyone. It is something hidden that Hitchcock has dug up and presented wrap in a pretty bow. Second he has the perfect everyman in Jimmy Stewart. Third Hitchcock has dug his little hands into our brains. He knows that we all make up little stories for all those we spy on. I love that even the voices from the neighbors are muffled as we strain to hear them.
It is the perfect film because none of it is wasted. Every frame of film is consumed as we try to decipher clues from them. Grace Kelly is impossibly gorgeous which makes it even easier on the eyes. For all the different neighbors, it is like many movies in a movie.