Hitchcock At His Best

Rating: 10/10 (19 September 2006)

Technically, this is the reverse of 1948's ROPE. ROPE's murder happens behind a closed curtain. This films observes everything through open windows & curtains. There was so little wasted footage in this because Hitch knew what he wanted to shoot before he shot it, that there was less than 10 minutes edited from the film as shot. The efficiency is almost as good as ROPE but the sequences are shorter.
Jimmy Stewart plays a man with a broken leg in an apartment complex (so large a set that the crew came to think of the set as home during the shooting of this film) with nothing better to do than gawk out at all the neighbors while he is recovering. Grace Kelly in one of her last & best complex roles before becoming Princess Grace is Stewarts girlfriend (also presented as a bit of a tomboy as well as being a sensuous beauty) who winds up along with Stewart's maid getting involved in the mystery that a neighbor (played by Raymond Burr) presents because of how he is observed by Stewart.
This is Alfred Hitchcock at his best, presenting situations in which the viewer gets emotionally involved & wants to help the folks on screen with their dilemma. From the short story is added other folks in the story from Miss Lonely Hearts, to others as Stewart, much more comfortable in this film than he was in ROPE, is on the mend from a broken leg peering in on the multiple apartments & people in this little world.
It is a fine film because even though the action is all limited to one huge set (apartment & window to a multi-apartment complex) for the most part, it explores & surprises the viewer with what can happen in such a static situation. I am thankful the studio came out with a restored version as this is a film that is well worth restoring to it's original form. Thelma Ritter is exceptional in her role as Stewarts maid.
The tension when the salesman (Burr) confronts Stewart in his apartment is brilliant & the technical use of now outdated flashbulb photography still plays well as setting the tension in this sequence.