Frothy and charming whodunit has it all...

Rating: 9/10 (12 May 2012)

As my best friend and I make our way down IMDb's top 250, Rear Window "reared" its head at us. We had no idea what to expect as our exposure to that era was quite limited. We were not disappointed, however...
Jimmy Stewart is fantastic as the wheelchair-bound photographer warding off the advances of the radiant and persuasive Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) as he recovers from a broken leg and engulfs himself in observing (spying?) on his neighbours. Soon enough he manages to convince Lisa that he's witnessed a potential murder and both of them try to solve it, culminating in Lisa sneaking into Thorwald's apartment to find the deceased wife's wedding ring (No wife would go without her ring unless she were dead...) and it all comes to a dramatic conclusion with some inadvertent humour thrown in as Lisa gets arrested in her home invasion but has a scant fifty cents in her purse (Socialites living off others' good graces...) and Stewart breaks his OTHER leg in the final confrontation, leaving a wry Grace Kelly at his bedside (not a bad way to go if you ask me. :) ) Excellent film, especially in its use of zoom and focus on the apartment dwellers supplemented by a quirky cast of characters that will leave you laughing and shaking your head at the same time.