The Art of Looking in Hitchcock's Rear Window
Edition: 1st Limelight Ed edition
Publisher: Limelight Editions
Published: August 1, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 196
ISBN-13: 9780879100872
Subjects: Acting techniques; Films, cinema; Hitchcock, Alfred,; Special Subjects In Motion Pictures; Performing Arts; Pop Arts / Pop Culture; Cinema/Film: Book; Rear window (Motion picture); Film & Video - History & Criticism; Hitchcock, Alfred; Performing Arts / Film / Reference; Film & Video - General; 1899-; 1899-1980; Criticism and interpretation
First sentence: THE AIM of this study is to give a lucid exposition on the subject of cinema art, an art that is abundantly demonstrated in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.
Description: One of the most popular thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock's middle years, Rear Window is now also recognized as one of the most brilliant demonstrations of the director's cinematic wizardry. Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, with Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr in memorable supporting roles, the film centers on a photographer confined to a wheelchair in his apartment who, using binoculars, spies on his courtyard neighbors and witnesses a possible murder.

This was not the first time Hitchcock challenged himself to build suspense when plot limited action to a small area, but it was the only time when the director's art in creating through a lens is so dramatically reflected in the very story he tells. The voyeur-hero is there to see for us, and the images he chooses to observe become the language of the movie, which is almost thirty-five percent silent.

Stefan Sharff, professor emeritus of Columbia University's film department, shows us how Hitchcock achieved the mounting excitement and fear that mark this film. The author first provides a detailed overview of the director's skill in developing the story from intriguing start to shattering climax. In the second part of the book, he goes on to a shot-by-shot analysis; using the film's continuity as his text, he describes how hitchcock's technique accomplished its magic.

Illustrated throughout with stills from the film, The Art of Looking is a unique appreciation of the art of Alfred Hitchcock, made even more valuable by the first publication in any form of the full dialogue of a screen masterpiece.