Hitchcock, Simple and Sweet

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2005)

Alfred Hitchcock finds a way to take a person who is doing the wrong thing and make him a hero, another example of the genius that was the director. Jimmy Stewart plays Jeff Jeffries, a world famous photographer who broke his leg and is wheel-chair bound. In an age before video games, computers, cable TV, for that matter widespread TV viewing, boredom was adverted by leaving the apartment and doing something. Well, Jeffries and his wheel chair couldn't leave the apartment, so he has to fill his hours by eavesdropping on the neighbors across the courtyard from his bedroom. The entire apartment complex may be one of the greatest set designs of all time, an entire building as a set, looking fantastic, like an actual apartment that could be found anywhere, and the source for the success of the film. An unconvincing set, something that looks fake would take away from the real tension that ensues. Jeffries is wrong in watching all of his neighbors going through their lives each night, as we are told by his physical therapist, Stella (Thelma Ritter), tells him at the beginning of the movie. One night, while Jeffries is looking out the window while going in and out of sleep, he thinks he sees a neighbor kill someone (Raymond Burr). Not sure, he discusses it with his girlfriend, the radiant and beautiful Grace Kelly as Lisa Fremont, and convinces her to go over to the man's apartment to look for clues. That is the setup and Hitchcock pumps up the tension by allowing the audience to see everything the same way Jeffries does, through the rear window of his apartment. There are very few shots that do not originate from somewhere in Jeffries' apartment, a simplistic approach that makes it all seem so real. Hitchcock also fills all of the other apartments with characters that interest Jeffries and ourselves, plus adds a song writer to a studio apartment who supplies the soundtrack to the movie. Every detail shown early in the movie comes into play later in the movie. Hitchcock never cheats, and we are left wondering what will happen next. Rear Window may be the simplest movie ever made, proving you don't have to blow up 700 cars to create a truly tense and spine-tingling movie.