The 14th greatest film of all time.

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2014)

What is it, where is it, how will it affect me? A wheelchair bound photographer spies on his neighbours from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder. The best and most famously triumphant pieces of America's cinema industry often make it into a legendary category: an elite club of perhaps thirty or so of the best of gangster, prison, thriller and western films ever to come from the continent. Foremost, one of the most worthy of the all the members is the immaculate, clever, savvy and unstoppable Rear Window. Hitchcock's arguable masterpiece shows how much diversity and resilience the mind can draw from one theme, three principle characters and one setting alone. Of course, Hitchcock is the renowned guru of such an exploit in cinematography, but Rear Window exceeds any of its peers in its presence, power, substance and style. The film moves as a fluid, lucid object in its entirety, to an unfashionably tense end executed end without violence, gore, or any other modern day routine condiments. But above all, Rear Window strives towards its place as a mythical, voyeuristic and popular icon because it's made in a way that does not only show great filmmaking, but exquisite film watching. Hitchcock disregards the restraints of: "if you can see the enemy, the enemy can see you" and allows to audience to have a vantage point that's not completely transparent, locking them in sync with the experiences of the characters. Rear Window successfully becomes a film that isn't looking to be praised for profound preaching or artistic merit, but resides happily, proudly, as one that aims to immerse and to play with the nerve and patience of the audience. And despite everything, the film is amicable. It's not gruelling or bleak, the dialogues are warm and inviting, it's laced with an established and assured romance with the lead female role (whom Hitchcock usually chooses to use as a tool of misfortune) and the climactic scenes of action are only as raucous as they need to be to keep the audience gripped. With the stylistic heights of the film coming from every angle, it doesn't need to be. Bleakness is recognised in Rear Window as a utensil that must be used appropriately and in moderation, and instead we are welcomed with a sweet, thickly textured, exhilarating thriller for the ages. It's difficult to write extensively about Rear Window without going into detail regarding particular scenes and their power or impact. The final confrontation scene is, by personal and popular vote, the highlight of Rear Window, one of the greatest successes of cinema history, with Hitchcock picking minimalistic technique:, dark pastel filters and a deadpan soundtrack of both speech and music to create the holy grail of mid-century thriller moments. Yet the real triumph of Rear Window is its perfect balance, maintained with utmost consistency, rid of inconvenient ideals and leaving optimal conditions for the masterpiece of voyeurism to play itself out for 110 devilishly good minutes.