Flawlessly Stylish and Thrilling

Rating: 10/10 (10 June 2014)

A creative and daring photographer with hundreds of ideas flowing in his mind simultaneously is placed in quite an unfortunate situation...Stuck in a wheelchair with his broken leg, he has to endure one more week of this immobile lifestyle. Yet, he does not expect that these 7 days are going to be most captivating, absorbing and peeping moments of his life that will introduce him to the real ethics of a rear window...
Based on a 1942 short story "It Had To Be Murder" by Cornel Woolrich, it is not exactly faithful to all that was penned by the author. Many liberties have been taken with the original source but...taking into account the supreme fact that it is a movie by master, Alfred Hitchcock, any viewer may look forward to wonderful surprises. All liberties or distortions, whatever we call it, should be forgiven. REAR WINDOW is, above all, both a flawlessly stylish and a flawlessly thrilling movie with consideration of the viewpoints of American audiences who saw the Master of Suspense as primarily an 'entertainer' and emphasized 'thrill' and the French New Wave critics, namely Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol who perceived his films as 'exceptionally artistic' and emphasized his style above all. Where do the flawless thrill and style manifest themselves?
REAR WINDOW does not display anything stupendous. On the contrary. Its setting is merely an apartment and a garden. It is, of course, the movie that features Hitchcock's favorite leading man, a sort of 'psychological' self-portrait of the director...
JAMES STEWART: the quintessential portrait of a man in his abilities vs. disabilities, his illusions vs. disillusions. Unlike his acrophobia in VERTIFO, Stewart is placed within the unforgettable claustrophobic realms. We might openly admit that he entirely plunges himself to the role in this very much claustrophobic setting (a Greenwich apartment with a view through the rear window). The intense capability to observe others, which at times crosses the hazardous borderlines of hard social relations, magnetizes viewers to such extent that we feel as part of the whole story. In that respect, Charles Ramirez Berg nicely points out that the film "made viewers voyeurs" and "Hitchcock provocatively probed the relationship between the watcher and the watched involving, by extension, the viewer of the film." It is not "Hitchcock's sadistic voyeurism" (Laura Mulvey "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema") but James Stewart's accurate and balanced combination of wit and suspense that creates a memorably a likable and very authentic personality linked to viewers' preferences and assumptions. But no vital character can ever stand on his own, he is surrounded by...TWO WOMEN of course, one who serves and one who loves.
Before getting into the wonders of the major female strength of the movie, Grace Kelly, let me say a few words about THELMA RITTER as Stella. Revealing certain Hitchcock-ian features of the main character's 'mother', she supplies the movie with considerable irony and wit. Being a deeply down-to-earth character, her lines are deliciously edgy and hilariously to the point. Amidst other most hilarious and memorable lines, when it comes to marriage reflections/decision, she 'spreads some common sense on bread' saying: "Nothing has caused humanity so much trouble as intelligence." As an amorous companion and a true center of attention no matter if the viewer is male or female comes...
GRACE KELLY: Hailed as "the quintessential Hitchcock beauty, elegant, strong-willed, witty, sophisticated, very very stylish and sexy" (Carter B. Horsley), she embodies something that may be called magnetism on screen. Her character is shaped by the director's preferences to some extent, her stylish glamor is revealed through her familiarity with New York's "21 Club" (echoing Ingrid Bergman in SPELLBOUND) and yet, she is clearly given considerable freedom to supply her Lisa with charming vitality, delicious sensuality and natural temperament. Being memorable in all of her scenes, one of the lines exceptionally depict her female character alongside Hitchcock's MacGuffin and Stewart's male perfectionism, "a great talent to create difficult situations."
Among the supporting cast, Wendell Corey is worth attention as Lieutenent Thomas Doyle who embodies skepticism and depicts "the right amount of New York casual wit and suspicion." (B.Horsley). Raymond Burr, whose resemblance to producer David Selznick seems uncanny, is convincing as one of Jeffries' neighbors, one of his 'phantoms,' the villain Lars Thorward and helps the climactic moment resist the temptation of cheap thrill and fear. Other of Jeffries' neighbors contribute highly to visual aspect of those who build pretty unique situations and associations.
REAR WINDOW, undeniably less well known masterpiece by Alfred Hitchcock, is truly flawless in its style and thrill memorably delivered by skillful direction, touchy script by John Michael Hayes, catchy tune by Franz Waxman, powerfully claustrophobic mood and marvelous performances. A masterpiece of its genre.