Hands down, Hitchcock's greatest film

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2000)

You could say that Psycho is more shocking, Vertigo more psychologically probing, and North by Northwest more sheer fun - but no other single Hitchcock film fires successfully on so many cylinders all at once. Every aspect of the director's considerable artistry is on view here - his humor, his tight plot construction, his brilliant set design, his visual ingenuity, the sexy and sophisticated interplay between his two leads - each honed and refined to perfection. Everything works in this film, and works brilliantly. The physical limitations of the plot - i.e. that it all takes place on one set - could have seriously undermined the film by allowing it to become too static, but instead Hitchcock actually makes the resulting claustrophobia work to great effect; it all builds to a climactic scene that is as pulse-poundingly suspenseful as anything ever committed to film. There are not many movies which could be described as "perfect" - even in the best of them, there's usually at least one or two minor flaws somewhere - but Rear Window definitely earns that distinction. If you have not yet seen it, I envy you the experience you are going to have once you finally do.