Very good on many levels

Rating: Null/10 (24 June 2002)

For some of the (younger???) viewers who have commented on Rear Window's lack of charm au courant, I'd like to say "Open your eyes and ears, and use that grey matter between them." Once upon a time, movies didn't involve explosions and zooming surround sound. They were about dialogue and the unfolding of events, pausing long enough for the viewer to participate in the plot, being allowed to think ahead, and make sense of what came behind. It involved more than one level of the brain. Well done movies such as Rear Window quickened the heart's pace as well as stimulated the mind.
The visuals are wonderful in Rear Window. The 'creeping camera' shots at the beginning of the film states where, what, who, and why in the matter of a few moments without a bit of dialogue (when is stated early on but uses dialogue, unless I've missed it in the earlier shots). The colors are wonderful as well and the dreamlike quality of the court's interior, versus the harsher shades just outside, tells the viewer that there is something otherworldly about this particular location. It sets up the real story told in this movie; it's a study of male/female relationships at various stages, from miss lonely hearts to the violent Thorwalds and everything in between. The suspense is the (interesting) hook keeping the viewer watching. You can compare and contrast the occupant/s of each apartment to one another, as well as Jeffries' relationship to Lisa, and possibly to your own.
I'm not an art house movie aficionado. I enjoy actions movies with the best of 'em; there's nothing wrong with a bit of escapism like Die Hard. But I can also appreciate a movie that doesn't rely on boobs and explosions to entertain and possibly makes a synapse pop with electricity once in a while. If explosions are all you can understand, and more than one dimension to a movie brings on a migraine, then by all means don't buy or rent this movie.