REAR WINDOW

Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window is an original and unique thriller, one that not only entertains us on a superficial level but also makes points on cinema as voyeurism and whether invasion of privacy can ever be justified. Wrapping the whole thing up in a excellently-written plot, he makes Rear Window a multi-layered, provocative and intelligent picture, one that is timeless in its power and message.

At its simplest, the film is a tense and exciting thriller concerned with James Stewart's wheelchair-bound photojournalist and his attempts to amuse himself by watching the exploits of his neighbours through the rear window of his two-bedroom apartment. Although spying on the lives of several neighbours, in particular he is interested in the salesman (a sinister Raymond Burr) and his wife that live in the apartment opposite. One night, Stewart observes the salesman leave three times, each time carrying a case, and each time bringing it back within a short period of time. When the next morning his invalid wife is nowhere to be seen, Stewart's suspicions are aroused and his imagination runs riot, convincing him that murder has taken place. At first his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and nurse (Thelma Ritter) think he is making it all up, but eventually they too are taken up by the mystery, becoming Stewart's accomplices as he spies on the salesman with binoculars and telephoto lenses. All the while, we are unsure as to whether Stewart's suspicions are correct, right up until the nail-biting climax, making this a classic example of the thriller genre: if not the definitive one.

What makes Rear Window a true masterpiece however is the means of its telling. By confining the action to Stewart's cramped apartment and his view from the window, we are forced into his mind, weighing up as he does the rights and wrongs of his actions. Besides the salesman and his wife, Stewart also spies upon others: the newlywed couple, the songwriter in his studio, the lonely spinster, etc. Each of these characters lives out their own lives throughout the film, and by showing us their actions through their windows, it is almost as if we are watching things unfold on a collection of screens (precisely what we are doing by watching the film itself). As we realise that we are only witnessing their actions via Stewart - and are as titillated as he is - we end up asking ourselves whether we really are little more than a race of "peeping toms", and that if we are not then what need is cinema actually satisfying in our lives?

Stewart excels as the invalid spy; part naive and curious innocent, part embittered and cynical veteran of life. By involving himself so much in the possibly illegal activities of the salesman, Stewart attempts to justify his intrusive actions. Indeed, sometimes his observations take on a feeling of bad taste, and he appears even callous when regarding people such as Miss Lonely Hearts (as he dubs the spinster) and their intensely private lives. Stewart's portrayal captures these conflicting emotions well, indirectly superimposing them upon ourselves. Kelly shines as ever, but is also a strong and feisty character, taking matters into her own hands on several occasions. And Ritter as Stewart's nurse comes out with all the best lines in an excellently-written script that is already full of witty and amusing dialogue.

But it is Hitchcock's faultless direction that elevates Rear Window into the upper reaches of genius. Whether he is thrilling us (making us share Stewart's helpless anxiety as he witnesses Burr finding Kelly in his apartment) or making us pause to consider the moral dilemma of Stewart's actions, he is always entertaining us, making Rear Window not only one of his finest films, but one of the best of all time.

Faultless. 10/10