A movie that doesn't need a lot of action to be really good

Rating: 9/10 (29 February 2004)

Rear Window is another one of Alfred Hitchcock's successes. The movie starts off rather slow and the viewer might get a little bored, but once it gets into all the mystery there is no way anyone could fall asleep. It keeps the audience on their toes and it is very entertaining to watch. The entire movie is filmed in one community which makes it different from other movies and quite interesting.
The movie stars James Stewart as L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries and Grace Kelley as Lisa Fremont. The two work great together on camera and are both very talented actors. James Stewart, who also starred in It's a Wonderful Life, is the perfect actor to play the part of Jeffries. His character is an old army man and you can certainly tell through his acting. Grace Kelley's character is classy and into fashion. She is beautiful herself which only adds to this view of her character in the movie. Overall, Stewart and Kelley are definitely the right people to star in Rear Window
The acting altogether throughout the film is almost never cheesy and is almost always very believable. All the actors and actresses act so well that it's as if what's happening isn't a move and is really going on. Even the people with very few lines are believable when they say them.

The music is all digetic. There is never any background music that was added in after filming. It all comes from a neighbor's piano, a radio, or something in the movie itself. The fact that there is no added in music just adds to the feeling that what you're watching is really happening. It makes the movie seem less like a movie and more like real life.
There aren't really any special effects in Rear Window because it's not a special effects kind of movie. There are however a few times in the movie where something or somebody looks very fake and you can tell it isn't really there or that what's happening isn't really happening like the audience sees it. But those few times don't make a big impact on what the viewer's opinion of the movie is. It is a very good movie and a few scenes that aren't so well put together don't change that.
Rear Window has to be one of the most suspenseful movies there is. Yes, it isn't full of loads of action but it doesn't need to be. This movie has shown me that a movie can be simple and not have much "bad" stuff to be a really good suspense movie. Rear Window is an awesome movie and is definitely on my "see again" list.