Claim: Grace Kelly was involved in acting.

Rear Window is a 1954 American Technicolor mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich 's 1942 short story `` It Had to Be Murder '' . Originally released by Paramount Pictures , the film stars James Stewart , Grace Kelly , Wendell Corey , Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr . It was screened at the 1954 Venice Film Festival .   The film is considered by many filmgoers , critics and scholars to be one of Hitchcock 's best and one of the greatest movies ever made . The film received four Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 42 on AFI 's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list and No. 48 on the 10th-anniversary edition . In 1997 , Rear Window was added to the United States National Film Registry in the Library of Congress as being `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' .