Reasonably Made Thriller, but No Masterpiece

Rating: 7/10 (25 June 2016)

Alfred Hitchcock often liked to set himself a challenge when it came to settings for his thrillers. The entire action of "Lifeboat", for example, takes place in a lifeboat on the open sea. The entire action of "Rope", shot using the "ten minute take" technique, takes place in a single flat, as does most of the action of "Dial M for Murder".
"Rear Window" is equally confined in its setting, and stars James Stewart (who had also starred in "Rope") and Grace Kelly (who had earlier in the same year also starred in "Dial M for Murder"). Stewart here plays L. B. "Jeff" Jefferies, a freelance photographer, who is temporarily confined to a wheelchair in his New York apartment after breaking his leg. The whole of the action takes place in Jeff's apartment and in the neighbouring apartments which he can see from his windows. For much of the film nothing much happens. Jeff gazes out of the window at his neighbours, most of whom have left their own windows open because of the hot weather. He holds a conversation with his nurse, Stella, and another more serious one with his girlfriend, Lisa. Lisa, a socialite from a wealthy family, wants Jeff to marry her, but he is not keen because he thinks she could never fit in with his adventurous lifestyle and he could never fit in with hers.
And then, something Jeff sees from his window makes him suspicious. He comes to believe that one of his neighbours, Lars Thorwald, may have murdered his wife. Unable to leave his room, however, Jeff has to rely upon Lisa and his old army friend Tom Doyle, now a police detective, to investigate, even though both (especially Tom) are initially sceptical. (Thorwald, interestingly enough, is played by Raymond Burr who would later himself become famous for playing a wheelchair-bound detective, the title character in "A Man Called Ironside").
Few reviewers seem able to comment on this film without using the word "voyeur" or "voyeurism", yet I do not think that these are necessarily appropriate words in this context. Jeff may be a "voyeur" in the original French sense of "one who sees", but he is not really a "voyeur" in the English sense, which generally implies both a sexual motive and an invasion of someone else's privacy. Admittedly, one of Jeff's neighbours, whom he nicknames "Miss Torso", is an attractive young woman who likes to exercise in a revealing top and shorts, but as she is happy to flaunt her charms in full view of everyone in the block of flats, it can hardly be said that he is violating her privacy. Given his interest in the psychology of the criminal or deviant mind, Hitchcock would doubtless have loved to make a film about a "voyeur" in the full sense of that word, but in 1954, with the Production Code still in force, that was never going to be a possibility. When Michael Powell did make such a film, "Peeping Tom", several years later (in Britain rather than America) the resulting critical backlash severely damaged his career.
The film is often referred to as being among the greatest movies ever made, but I've never really understood why. I probably wouldn't even rank it among Hitchcock's top ten. It lacks the two factors which are the hallmarks of the director's really great thrillers- genuine suspense and psychological insight. Hitchcock gives us a number of compelling psychological portraits of his villains, such as Uncle Charlie in "Shadow of a Doubt",Alex Sebastian in "Notorious", Bruno in "Strangers on a Train" and Norman Bates in "Psycho". Thorwald by comparison is a mere cardboard cut-out. For most of the running-time the film is largely suspense-free, until the end when Thorwald breaks into Jeff's apartment and tries to push him out of the window, but nobody will ever include this moment among Hitchcock's great cliff-hangers, certainly not when compared to similar moments in the likes of the original "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "The 39 Steps" and "North By North West".
On the other hand, it's all very cleverly worked out, and Stewart makes a personable hero, although Kelly as Lisa is little more than window dressing. It's more than just minor-league Hitchcock (unlike, say, "Stage Fright" or "Torn Curtain"), and I would certainly rate it more highly than the dull "Dial M for Murder". It's a reasonably made thriller, but no masterpiece. 7/10