In a world where nobody ever heard of window blinds...

Rating: 8/10 (26 August 2006)

While I thoroughly enjoyed REAR WINDOW and think it's among Hitch's best films, I always observe how easy it was for Stewart's character to view the lives around him. It seems that nobody in the entire neighborhood ever heard of keeping curtains or window blinds in more discreet positions. We are forced to believe that all of these people leave their windows totally exposed to the naked eye even though they face an apartment building not more than fifty feet away, and even when scantily clad or seeking a romantic rendezvous.
Of course, little do they suspect that a wheelchair-bound photographer is stalking them through his binoculars and keeping tabs on their everyday quirks and foibles. This is where the story taps into the psyche of the main character, brilliantly played by JAMES STEWART.
He gets excellent support from a first-rate cast, although I think GRACE KELLY was a bit arch as his female companion. However, it's RAYMOND BURR (as a man Stewart suspects has killed his wife), JUDITH EVELYN (as "Miss Lonelyhearts"), WENDELL COREY (as a skeptical detective), and most of all, THELMA RITTER as a wise-cracking nurse, who really stir things up.
Hitchcock shows complete control of his camera, forcing us to view everything just the way Stewart sees things and focusing our attention where it ought to be through the development of the story, which is loosely based on a Cornel Woolrich short story.
It's the kind of film where you have to be watching and on the alert all the time so as not to miss anything.
Highly satisfying and typically good Hitchcock suspense that builds to a tense stand-off at the climax.