"A cold and lonely, lovely work of art"

Rating: 10/10 (12 August 2009)

A director's ego can ruin a picture. Young film-makers want to get noticed, and drown their work in showy and obvious technique. This is a problem with Alfred Hitchcock's earliest efforts, where his aims were the same as they ever were; yet his means were contrived and jarringly noticeable – dissolves, whip pans, double-exposures – camera tricks that draw attention to the artificial nature of the business. Luckily, by the 1950s he had learnt that his reputation was far better served by staying within the realms of cinematic convention, and learning to employ it to suit the story's needs.
Like Rope, an earlier Hitchcock thriller set entirely in one apartment, Rear Window is a based around a unique and unusual premise. But it is an oddity only in terms of story and setting. As far as the mechanics of cinema go, it is an unpretentious deployment of long-shots, mid-shots and close-ups, basic camera moves and functional shot compositions. It just so happens that Hitchcock is using these methods exceptionally well. And, mundane as they may seem, he is using them to create electrifying suspense.
Of course, one of the most important and simple "rules" of the shooting Rear Window is that, even though the focus is outside, the camera stays within James Stewart's apartment. But it's not enough for Hitch to make us look out of that window, he has to make us want to look. He starts this before the little neighbourhood drama even begins, just making the exterior slightly more pleasing to the eye than the interior. A less intelligent director might do this with vibrant colour schemes or freakish shadows, but Hitch keeps everything naturalistic and unobtrusive – whites and greys for the apartment, warmer browns and oranges for the courtyard. And while there are many (wonderful) subplots within the various homes, Hitch has to gradually draw our attention to that of the Thorwalds. Again, he does the opposite of what a naïve director might do – he makes the Thorwalds' apartment the plainest, with small windows, no creeping plants or drainpipes on the walls outside, sparse décor inside. This means when the camera is pointing at that apartment, we are completely focused on what goes on inside it.
There is a delicate balance going on in Rear Window, because while the events going on outside the window must hold our interest, what goes on inside the apartment must put up healthy competition. If we cannot sympathise with Stewart or worry for Grace Kelly, the picture would lose all sense of danger. The love story between these two is given just enough weight in the screenplay for this to work without distracting us from the main business of the story, but Hitchcock helps even more, ensuring that at the start of the scenes between Stewart and Kelly the focus is always inward, making us forget the outside for a second. Then, gradually he brings the window back to our attention with lighting and shot composition, pre-empting Stewart broaching the subject of his suspicions. The upshot of this is that we should now like these characters, but also be as interested in the goings-on outside as they are. Hitch is aware that we will also become caught up in their mounting fear, and start to feel conscious about not being spotted. He begins to add some foreground framing in the exterior shots as if we, via the camera, are hiding.
One of the great things about a picture made of fewer elements, is there is less that can go wrong. This is especially true when you only have a handful of cast members. James Stewart did not do his best work with Hitchcock, but he played some of his most, shall we say, appropriate roles for the Master of Suspense. As the innocent yet strong-willed "everyman", he was not so much required to act as to simply be. His L.B. Jeffries could be the lead in a vacuous comedy, and here he allows just a little pressure to be applied to his regular persona, breaking into a sweat once or twice but never coming near the breaking point he would reach in Vertigo. Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter and Wendell Corey are also simply there to fit their usual types, and each delivers a steady performance without once stepping outside their comfort zone. But who cares that the actors are not stretched? After all, the real drama is going on outside.