The past few days have been hot as hell over at Cinema Nerds HQ (aka our charming little apartment) so it seems appropriate that I review Rear Window, which takes place during a very hot summer. It's one of my favorite Hitchcock films ever!
James Stewart plays L.B. Jeffries, a photographer who's stuck in his apartment with a broken leg. Despite visits from his stunning gal-pal Lisa (Grace Kelly, looking absolutely divine in every second of screen time), he's bored, so he takes to peering in on the neighbors. The scenes of everyday life viewed from his window take a strange turn when he thinks he witnesses a murder, and his idle pastime becomes an obsession.
This movie is so good! It builds up slowly, and we think we really know the people in all the apartments even though we haven't heard them speak. The audience feels the heat, the tension, we're not sure of what we see either. Is there a murder or not? Is Jeffries overreacting? The cast is great...James Stewart, naturally, is always ace, Grace Kelly sizzles, and Thelma Ritter as Jeffries' nurse Stella is fantastic (she cooly remarks "Must've splattered a lot" when discussing murder...eww). I can't get enough of this film!
I'll leave you with some words of wisdom from Stella: "We've become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to do is get outside their own house and look in for a change. Yes sir. How's that for a bit of homespun philosophy?"
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