Hitchcock Classic

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2018)

I must admit, I was skeptical at first about Hitchcock's suspense thriller "Rear Window." It's just another older film with the same murder-mystery plot to it where the protagonist sees a murder, has a relationship with some woman from the police academy, then gets in a final showdown with the main antagonist. They arrest the antagonist, and everyone goes on their merry way.
Boy was I caught off guard by how well this movie was made.
Taking place in 1950s New York City, it had a very nostalgic feeling in the introduction. Using Hitchcock's signature opening style, we glimpse into the life of a recently handicapped photographer who looks out his window and observes his neighborhood. This was unlike any other movie I have ever seen, in that the movie only has about four or five viewpoints: Jeff's view, looking into Jeff's room, looking out Jeff's window from farther back in his room, and through the magnified lenses to name most of them.
Contrary to my original belief that a film needs to be fluid with its location, "Rear Window" completely changed my opinion on the matter.
The focus on the minor characters was also very impressive. Each minor character, although not interactive, these characters let us peer into the life and blood of the courtyard where Jeff lives.
A scream and sob in the night, and the dog is dead. Why did this have to happen? I mean it added a whole new level of seriousness to the film, but why the cute innocent dog? This is actually a very good decision on their part but it probably hurt me more than it hurt the dog's owners. I hate it when animals die.
Going off of that, most action occurs in the dark. This is immaculate use of mise-en-scène; it gives the scene a much more serious undertone. If the action took place during the day, then the scenes would not be as effective.
Miss Lonelyhearts is a sad woman who lives in the bottom of Jeff's courtyard. She has been struggling romantically, as portrayed by the mise-en-scène of her apartment. The apartment gives off the vibe that it is full of things yet still missing something. This is truly apparent when she is sitting and eating dinner by herself and sobbing.
Jeff's musical neighbor that lives in the studio apartment always has a party. The composer that lives there loves his piano, and actually plays a significant part in the plot by getting Miss Lonelyheart's attention.
The only area that I feel that this film falls short is in some of the character development.
Why does Lisa think it's a good idea to go into the murderer's apartment? I mean, sure she got the ring, but this was probably the one of the stupidest decisions I've ever seen made by a director in a live action film. Second only to the decision made by Rian Johnson, the director of Disney's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," to have Princess Leia suddenly become force sensitive and use the force to re-enter the rebel ship. I guess Lisa had to do something like "make a daring attempt to retrieve the wedding ring of Mrs. Thorwald (and succeed) that may or may not even be in the murderer's apartment" to move the plot forward.
The other question about the film has got to be, "why does the ballet dancer even exist in the script?" The only reason I can see for her being written into the script is to draw attention to the outside world. In the word's of Alfred Hitchcock himself, "I'll bet you that nine out of ten people, if they see a woman across the courtyard undressing for bed...will stay and look."
All in all, this film is a great watch. I recommend it to all Hitchcock fans everywhere!