I see why this movie is a classic with a little bit of everything

Rating: 9/10 (24 September 2014)

I recently watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie the "Rear Window" and after viewing the movie it's clear to see why it is such a classic. The movie is 60 years old and has a little bit of everything in it. I think the main genre in this film is somewhat of a murder mystery. Some of the subgenres that are showcased in the film are a few different romance stories and some comedy going on. For me, the movie started out a little slow because we spend a lot of time getting to know all of the characters in the story. Later on in the movie we find out how each character's and their roles really plays a part in the story line make up of the film. The movie starts out with the director giving us (the audience) a glimpse at the setting of the movie. The camera pans over all the apartments showing us a long shot view into each characters apartment. The story is shown through James's eyes, never leaving his apartment but we meet many people. We meet his girlfriend Lisa, his caretaker Stella and the man that is seen most of the movie playing his piano working on his music. We meet the women that he refers to as "miss lonely heart" and "miss torso." We also meet a couple with a dog. All of these characters end up being a big part of the story line but we don't know that in the beginning. Alfred Hitchcock did a very good job with the editing and sound use in the film. He used the fade in fade out technique of cinematography in almost every scene witch somewhat helped the movie to feel like it was all one period of time. The music was appropriate as well setting up the different events that were about to take place with different neighbors. This is when he starts seeing some suspicious activity going on in one of the apartment's right across the court yard from James's window. I recently also broke my foot so this movie was very enjoyable for me as I was able to relate. When you have a lot of time on your hands, you'll find yourself finding getting entertainment anywhere you can get it. This movie made me think of the movie Disturbia where Shai Labeouf is on house arrest so has a lot of extra time and notices a lot of strange activity going on at a neighbor's home. He comes to find out that the neighbor is a murderer. The social context of the film show some of the love story that was taking place and shows how crazy things can be going on right next to you and you could be unaware of it. I would recommend this movie but would warn people that it is an older movie so the edits and production is not what we are used to now days. I would give this movie 8.5 out of ten as the beginning dragged a little for me and it ended somewhat quickly but I liked all of the different stories that were pulled in and the advancements that they used in editing for it time.