Released: 1954
Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr
Oscar Nominations: Best Director (Alfred Hitchcock), Best Screenplay (John Michael Hayes), Best Cinematography, Color (Robert Burks), Best Sound Recording (Loren L. Ryder)
SUMMARY: L. B. “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart) is a professional photographer who is temporarily out of work after breaking his leg. While he heals, Jeff is confined to his small apartment in Greenwich Village. Through the rear window of his apartment, Jeff can see the apartments of several other people. During an intense heat wave, these neighbors cope by leaving their windows open; Jeff amuses himself by watching them. One of these neighbors is Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), who is a traveling jewelry salesman. Thorwald shares the apartment with his wife, who is an invalid. One night, Jeff hears glass breaking and a woman screaming; later, he sees Thorwald repeatedly going in and out of his apartment, always carrying his sample case. Later, Jeff notices that Thorwald’s wife is no longer in the apartment; he also watches Thorwald clean several large cutting instruments. Eventually, he even sees Thorwald get rid of a big trunk. Jeff begins to believe that Thorwald murdered his wife, and is getting rid of the body parts. He tells this theory to both his girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) and his home-care nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), but neither seems particularly concerned. Jeff is sure of himself, though, and asks a police officer friend to look into things. The officer agrees, but doesn’t find anything unusual. In fact, he learns that Mrs. Thorwald actually picked up the large trunk that was removed from the apartment.
Jeff’s suspicions are re-aroused after an incident at the apartment building: a neighbor’s dog is found dead, and while every other tenant reacts, Thorwald does not. In an attempt to test Thorwald, Jeff has Lisa leave a note under the man’s door so that Jeff can watch his reaction. Jeff believes that Thorwald killed the dog to keep it from digging up something buried in the building’s courtyard; deciding to find out what, he calls Thorwald away from his apartment, then sends Lisa and Stella to dig things up. The plan works, but the women don’t find anything in the courtyard. Determined to help Jeff and figure things out once and for all, Lisa sneaks into Thorwald’s apartment. However, Thorwald returns before she can leave, and catches her. Jeff calls the police, who arrive before anything happens to Lisa. During this time, Lisa tries to signal to Jeff, but Thorwald also sees the signals, and realizes that they are meant for Jeff. Jeff again calls his police friend; at the same time, Stella goes to the police station to bail Lisa out of jail. When his phone rings, Jeff assumes that it’s the police calling him back, and blurts out the fact that Thorwald has left his apartment. When the other person doesn’t answer, Jeff realizes that he’s made a terrible mistake: it’s not the police on the phone, it’s Thorwald, who is now headed for the apartment (where Jeff is alone and incapacitated because of his leg). Jeff spends an agonizing few minutes waiting for Thorwald, but makes some preparations as he does. When Thorwald bursts into the apartment, clearly bent on harming Jeff, he sets off numerous camera flashes. This momentarily blinds Thorwald and slows him down, allowing Jeff to call out for help. Thorwald continues to try to push Jeff out of the rear window, and eventually succeeds; however, the police arrive just as he falls out and to the ground. Several days later, everything has returned to normal in the apartment building, except that Jeff now has a cast on both legs.
MY TAKE: This is one of those movies where you can’t decide if the character is onto something or just nuts. Sometimes, it seems obvious that Jeff is right, and that Thorwald killed his wife. Other times, it really seems like Jeff is just imagining things (just think, if they’d had air conditioning, this never would have happened). Personally, I sided with Jeff (even though the fact that he’s creeping his neighbors is a little weird), so the nasty anticipation of the final showdown was somewhat tempered by a sense of triumph. That final scene, when Jeff is waiting for Thorwald, is absolutely brutal, because he is physically unable to make any sort of escape, or put up a fight. To know this, and to realize that he’s completely alone, makes the wait for Thorwald worse than the fight between them. However, I would have to say that I’m rather surprised that Jeff ever got involved in this ordeal. I understand that he’s bored and incapacitated, but seriously, if you had a girlfriend that looked like Grace Kelly, would you be spending all your time looking out the window? Personally, I’m rather certain that every man in America (and most of the females, because Grace Kelly was flat-out gorgeous) would have their backs to the window, and would care less about what their neighbors were doing.
Also: Jimmy Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock in the same movie? Between the two of them, they’re involved in like half the films on the list — this ought to have been the greatest movie ever.
RATING: Very, very tense.
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