An amazingly perfect movie

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2005)

One of the most famous movies by Hitch was Rear Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly (who shined on the screen of my TV--I can't imagine how she looked on the big screen).
Stewart stars as a war photographer that is confined to a wheelchair because of a broken leg or hip. The only thing to do in 1954 was to watch the neighbors through the windows. The multiple levels of voyeurism are amazing in this movie, especially noticeable after several viewings (I think I have watched this four or five times). Stewart sees a microcosm of different points of his own life as he watches Miss Torso, the happy-go-lucky gal with a million gentlemen callers, Miss Lonelyhearts, who is apparently becoming an old maid, the Wedding Couple, with their wedded bliss, and the married couple and the arguments that they are apparently facing. Stewart watches people for his job, in a movie where we the viewers are watching somebody watch others. It's enough to make anyone think they are seeing things.
Stewart thinks something is fishy with the married couple when the woman seems to disappear into thin air. His deductive skills are on the move and he thinks there is foul play. Or is there? The amazing part of a movie with only one set is how deep it can actually be. It doesn't have to take place all over New York or the world. This seemingly simple man is thrust into a dire situation, and that is Hitchcock's trademark. Danger may lurk in your own backyard. Will you be up to the challenge? I wonder how many false alarms were made in the mid-1950s by other apartment dwellers because of this movie? How many today? This movie receives my highest possible recommendation.