Rear Window Review

    In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 suspense film Rear Window, photographer L.B. Jefferies spends his time recovering from a broken leg in his apartment in New York after trying to capture a dangerous shot of a race car. Jefferies is the kind of 1950’s man who is constantly on the go, the kind of man who is insanely dedicated to his work, so his injury becomes even more dreadful by the mere fact that he doesn’t have much to occupy his time with. That is, until Jefferies (Jeff) begins to closely watch his neighbors from the rear window of his apartment. His fascination with his neighbors’ whereabouts and doings starts out very innocent. That is, until Jefferies begins to grow more conscious of the absence of his neighbor, Mrs. Thorwald, and becomes more suspicious of her husband, Lars Thorwald, insistent that a murder has occurred. With the help of his caretaker, Stella, his socialite girlfriend, Lisa Freemont, and the opportunity to prove his old friend Doyle wrong, Jefferies seeks out to solve the case.

     I’ve never particularly considered myself a fan of “older” movies, as I am not the biggest fan of the pacing of films from the 1950’s. I’ve also seen Psycho, another Hitchcock staple, and then too did I dread how slowly the suspense built throughout the film. However, I still found that there is much to be appreciated in Hitchcock’s direction and overall style.

We see a variety of clear choices of patterns in Rear Window that Hitchcock makes, most distinctly with the choice to almost confine the camera to Jeff’s point of view out the window when observing the neighbors. The audience almost never gets the chance to look beyond Jefferies' view until Jefferies and Lisa hear a commotion out the window. When the audience, along with Jeff and Lisa, discover that the fire escape couple’s dog has died, the audience has the rare opportunity to veer away from the constant POV angle that the camera usually subjects to. Instead, the audience is able to actually see the characters up close and personal. No more are they faint figures across the courtyard but rather full fledged people with lives further than what Jefferies has allowed the audience to see. Not only is the change of view interesting and pleasing visually, but the break in pattern shows and leads into a technique that Hitchcock makes present in most, if not all, of his films: the plot twist. 

    At least in Rear Window, the audience (and Jefferies) find out that Lars Thorwald was in fact responsible for the death of his wife, but also discover that Thorwald was also responsible for the death of the dog after many pieces are put together upon Jeff and Lisa’s reflection of the past few days. 

    While I wasn’t the biggest fan of how the execution of the choppy ending felt, I can still appreciate the intention of the final few scenes with Hitchcock’s choice to make Jeff the one being watched rather than the person doing the watching. 

    Overall, I'd give Rear Window a 7/10 rating.