Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-09-01

NeWiyWeo .-------- HeviS Davenport
life insists upon being looked
squarely In the eye, it will here
after have to make itself more
attractive frontally.
The rear window through
which the camera maintains its
dramatic vigil is that In the
apartment where Stewart sits in
a wheelchair, an ace photog-
rapher grounded by q shattered
leg. Trained to keep life under
surveillance. he passes the rest,
less hours peeping into his
neighbors' windows.
They give him a quite unbar-
gained eyeful. the dancer di-
verting snatches Of nudity, a
lonely spinster f1eeting glimpses
of slow heartbreak. a frustrated
composers outbreaks of violence,
and honeymoon couple the
haunting vision Of q fixed and
lowered window shade.
These. however. are merely the
sideshows. The main point Of in
terest along the picture-win-
dowed wall across the way is
the apartment Of a salesman and
his invalid wife. In the dead Of
q rainy night just made for q
murder, the sleepless Stewart
decides that that is just what he
has seen. He has not seen the
actual act of homicide, but the
fragments he has glimpsed fill
the pattern perfectly.
Few chair-bound humans
could ask for a new and sharper
interest in life than this. Obvi-
ously. however, he is in no posi-
ton to apprehend the murderous
salesman. He needs help and
the first to answer his call for
volunteers is the beautiful. pred
atory Miss Kelly who stops nag
ging him to marry her to join
the manhunt. "A second ally turns
up In the spade-calling nurse
played BY Thelnla Ritter.
Quite q squad Of crime ANA
teurs these three are, but they
are barely able to dent the skep-
ticism of Wendell Corey, an old
police detective pal Of the Grip
pied caremaman.
Hitchcock, a man fairly OBJ
sessed by a yen to pen up vol
canic action in an area the size
of a crowded New York hack
yard, never was more brilliant
than in playing with the strands
of this narrow narrative. This is
meat on which he can and does.
feed ravenously.
The immediate human crea-
lures with whom he deals are
solid, opinionated, articulate be-
ings who can make a mountain
of excitement out of what the
detective insists Is a molehill of
suspicion. Moreover. when they
are not pre-occupied with ferret
ing out the murder, the personal
relationships handsomely fill all
gaps in the plots major tension.
The most accented of these is
Miss Kelly's high-Styled, but re-
lentless pursuit of Stewart; next
in emphasis the comically candid
relationship between Miss Ritter
and the helpless hero.
An incidental aspect of Rear
Window" with which the movie
goer can be delighted is that the
tattoo which Hitchcock beats on
his emotions is as merry as it
is mercileSs. The master melo-
dramatist was never better in
this respect; never so kind as
when he injects a shot of the
dancers derriere into the middle
Of the films suspense peak.
Seldom have the players in
Rear Window" presented more
winning facades to an audience.
Stewart is something new as a
querulous invalid who is more
interested in a neighboring homi-
eide than making love to Miss
Kelly. The latter. more reminis-
cent daily of Ingred Bergman
before she fell into matrimony
with Rossillini, is here clearly en-
titled to all the prestige she now
has in Hollywood. Miss Ritter's
nurse is a gem of comedy and
Corey's detective Is first class
self -made bumbler.
Rear Window" is q phrase,
is Hitchcock at his best.
4
MAKE A MEMO: It Is q full
first semester that the National
Theater suddenly has registered,
If you would like to make a plan
during the last lingering weeks
of summer. Starting with "All
Summer Long" next Monday, the
first fortnight flows steadily on
ward into:
September 20-October 2, Jean
Arthur in Shaw's "St. JOAN;
October 40. Ballet Russo; Octo-
Der 1924, Ballet Espagniol: Mo-
vember 1-13. Kermit Bloomgar-
den's new production, Wedding
Breakfast; November 1920.
''Tea and Sympathy" again with
Deborah Kerr: November a.
December 4. by the Beautiful
Sea" with Shirley Booth: De-
cember 6-11, New York City Gen.
-