Hitchcock's best, bar none

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 2004)

"Rear Window" is, as "Rope" was, a study of setting a story in a confined place. "Rope is notable for the smallness of its set; one studio apartment, rarely leaving the main living, and edited in such a way as to appear as one continuous take. "Rear Window" is famous for just the opposite; it had a giant set, occupying he biggest studio on the lot, with and extra level excavated to provide a life-sized, four-story set. Hitchcock also uses many more cuts, using the shot-reaction-shot technique with L.B. Jeffries (Jimmy Stewart) as he uses cameras and binoculars to observe the goings on outside the rear widow of his apartment.
The main theme of "Rear Window is privacy  how far those standards extend, and what people do when they think they are secure in the privacy of their own home. Jeffries, a magazine photographer trapped in his apartment with a broken leg, turns to the view out his window to while away the hours until his cast comes off. His only contact with the outside world arrives in the form of his nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), and female friend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly), a rich socialite who has a romantic interest in Jeffries (who seems to abandon his photographer skills as an observer when it comes to her).
Hitchcock played with audiences by having them play the role of voyeur along with Jeffries  he knew that human nature compels us to keep staring, even when polite society tells us to look away and mind our own business. By capturing our interest with a variety of characters and a portion of their lives  Miss Lonelyhearts, Miss Torso, etc.  Hitchcock creates an interesting character study as well as his usual thriller. We are only allowed to see what Jeffries sees, bits and pieces presented out of context, and we are left to make our own theories about what these bits mean in the overall lives of these characters.
The main focus of the movie is Jeffries suspicion of Lars Thorwald, who occupies a second-story apartment across from Jeffries'. He notices Thorwald's strained relationship with his wife, then her sudden disappearance. A number of events that could be related follows. As he pries more and more into Thorvald's life, he gets closer and closer to the man himself; climaxing in Lisa's entry into Thorwald's home to search for clues, and the mano-a-mano confrontation between the Jeffries and Thorwald at the film's end.
By the movie's end, resolution has been achieved for most of the characters in the film; the truth about Thorwald is discovered, Miss Torso's husband arrives back from war, the couple that sleeps outside is training a new puppy, Miss Lonelyhearts and the musician with the studio apartment have linked up romantically. Even pessimistic Jeffries, bound yet again in his apartment with two broken legs, has found resolution, finally accepting Lisa as an equal. As the movie ends, the shutters on the window are drawn  he doesn't need them anymore.