Hitchcock's Voyeuristic Masterpice

Rating: Null/10 (19 September 2012)

How do you take a simple story that remains in one place for the duration of the movie, never leaves the room and only looks outside into the neighborhood without leaving whilst still remaining suspenseful? You get Alfred Hitchcock as director and you get Rear Window.
It follows the story of a wheelchair bound photographer played by Jimmy Stewart who starts to suspect that his neighbor (played by Raymond Burr) across from his apartment has committed murder. Through the story he gets the help of his beautiful girlfriend (played by Grace Kelly) and his nurse (played by Thelma Ritter) to solve the mystery.
They don't call him "Master of Suspense" for nothing. Hitchcock takes his audience on a journey of voyeurism through a tiny neighborhood that was built on one set. Whatever Jimmy Stewart sees in his neighborhood the audience sees because the movie makes us voyeurs just like he is. Most of the camera work and cinematography involves panning and tilting inside the neighborhood without ever entering any of the other apartments hence the theme of voyeurism. When its not looking outside it stays in the one apartment that Jimmy Stewart always stays in. In most movies this idea would be boring because not much would happen but with Hitchcock at the helm and great writing by both John Michael Hayes and Cornell Woolrich, you get a fantastic suspenseful film.
Performance wise, everyones great all around. Jimmy Stewart is great as Jefferies (the wheel chair bound photographer). Grace Kelly is great as Jefferies girlfriend who uses her intuition to help solve the mystery. Thelma Ritter is great as the down to earth nurse and Raymond Burr is great as the mysterious neighbor Thorwald.
For a movie thats nearly 60 years old it has that timeless quality to it making it all the more better as a classic and one of Alfred Hitchcock's best movies. 10 out of 10 stars.