Why I like this movie

Rating: 10/10 (18 August 2013)

Action photographer and journalist,"Jeff" (played by Jimmy Stewart) is wheel chair bound with a broken leg. His only activities during his convalescence are visits from the insurance nurse (played by and watching his neighbors through the rear window of his apartment. He has visits from his glamorous model and dress designer girlfriend, Lisa (played by Grace Kelly) while he plays peeping Tom on his neighbors. Jeff watches his neighbors daily, even naming them (ex. Miss Torso, a dancer; Miss Lonely Heart, has dinner parties with imaginary friends; and the music man).
From the opening scenes of Rear Window, the transitions and pace of the film are apparent. Immediately, we know what the main character does and how he became wheel chair bound. The film flows from the image of a thermometer to Jeff; his broken leg and wheel chair. The scene smoothly transitions to the broken camera and crash pictures on his wall and lastly a negative film image of a woman. This scene and several others are shot without spoken word. It is the transition of the images that speaks to the viewer and creates the suspense of what may or may not happen. The timing and transition of each piece of film tells the back story so we have information about Jeff and why he is viewing his word through the rear window of his apartment building.
In 1 hour and 55 minutes, you are taken on a suspenseful ride of psychological terror. The movie follows an indirect –subjective point of view, as we are drawn into the action. The director, Alfred Hitchcock, has once again pulled the viewer into his world of voyeurism and suspense. This movie is in his typical style where the blonde is elevated to a status and the male role either feels he is not good enough as in Jeff in Rear Window, or obsessed with her like the character Norman Bates. As in both movies the female lead is in jeopardy creating a back story to the suspense.