A Classic!!!

Rating: Null/10 (1 June 2003)

Rarely does a motion picture come along that is so genuinely intense that it sends cold chills down one's spine. This was a knack that late director Alfred Hitchcock immersed his films in-particularly, `Rear Window.' Starring the late, great Jimmy Stewart and the gorgeous Grace Kelly, `Rear Window' is a spine tingling film that leaves the audience guessing and one the edge of their seat.	L. B. 'Jeff' Jeffries (Steward) sits in his apartment, stuck in a wheel chair with a broken leg after photographing a car accident. He's been there for nearly seven weeks and all he does is watch out his apartment's back window at the other tenants in their apartments across his backyard. All seems normal until one night he hears a scream and notices that in one apartment, a woman who was sick in bed is no longer there. And her husband, a salesman, has been leaving the house late at night. Jeff suspects the man has killed his wife, but can't prove it. Jeff's story seems contrived and silly to his nurse, a close friend, and his girlfriend Lisa (Kelly). But clues soon turn up that will leave these characters forever changed.
Hitchcock masterfully directs this classic from 1954. The one astounding aspect of `Rear Window' is that it all takes place inside Jeff's apartment. The camera never leaves the room, except to occasionally pan around the exterior of the backyard. Also, Hitchcock sets up interesting characters in each of the apartments. There are the newlyweds, a woman who is an artist, a woman who is a dancer, a man struggling with writing music that will sell, and another woman who is so distraught from lonliness that Jeff refers to her as Miss Lonely Heart.'	The performances of `Rear Window' are some of best ever captured on celluloid. Naturally, Stewart can't touch a film without turning it to gold with his down-to-earth appeal. Kelly lights up the screen with her beauty and intriguing nature. Thelma Ritter is witty and engaging as Jeff's nurse, Stella, who provides her own insight into the relationship of Jeff and Lisa, but also into the possible murder. Wendell Corey plays Thomas Doyle, Jeff's friend who is an investigator. He gives his own explanation for the disappearance of the man's wife-she could have gone to visit family, or left him. And lastly, Raymond Burr plays Lars Thorwald, the man whose wife goes missing. Burr is terrifying in his portrayal as the strange salesman.
All in all, `Rear Window' proudly takes its place among the top 100 movies of all time from the American Film Institute (AFI). It's certainly one of the best movies ever made not so much because it has the ability to terrify its audience, but because of the brilliance in the filmmaking by arguably the greatest director of all time, Hitchcock. `Rear Window' is available for rental at local video stores. ****