Great actors, great plot, great story....

Rating: Null/10 (1 March 2004)

Rear Window is a classic suspense movie without all the blood and guts.
The whole plot takes place inside L.B. `Jeff' Jeffries (James Stuart) New York apartment. He is recovering from a broken leg and is confined to his wheel chair. Trying to get through the days while not doing much besides visiting with his Stella (Thelma Ritter) his nurse and Lisa Carol Fremont (Grace Kelly) his girlfriend, he looks through the rear window to his apartment and observes his neighbors in the apartments across the courtyard. Miss Torso, Miss Loneyheart, a composer, newlyweds and a bickering couple captures his attention and Jeff is soon caught up in his neighbors' lives noticing the odd things that they do day by day. One day he notices that the wife of the man across the courtyard is no longer in the apartment and the man is packing her things. Jeff also notices that his strange neighbor is coming home at odd hours of the night with knives and ropes. Soon Jeff becomes suspicious thinking that a murder has just been committed across from his own apartment. Hitchcock used a lot of symbolism throughout the movie. When Miss Lonelyheart was depressed, she would be on the lower floor of the apartment, but when she became happier she would go to the higher floors of the apartment building. The apartment of the suspicious neighbor was dark and uninviting. The music from the composer's apartment would always start to play when Jeff and Lisa would talk about the suspicious neighbor. It was very interesting to look for the symbolism throughout the movie because it took the theme of the movie to a deeper level. Also, when Jeff is looking into all the different apartment buildings he seeing more than neighbors go through their daily tasks: he's seeing different stages of people lives. I think that is what makes this movie so interesting and captivating in a way. Hitchcock's movies have multiple levels. I would rate this movie 10/10. It is definitely something everyone should see.