Rear Window

Re: Rear Window

You're CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!

And for the second part, it was in color. Richard Mueller was the color consultant for the movie. The negative was shot in Eastmancolor and the prints in Technicolor.

Everyone knows that in Rear Window Hitchcock simply used color as a MacGuffin.

Nope, it was shot in color. Hitchcock wanted it that way because he felt it would help display the mamoth size of the indoor set at Paramount.

I like MacGuffins but I prefer a nice Croissanwich.

That's Hitchcock suspense for you.

Maybe it's because of recent paranoia films like Bug and Zodiac, but I was so sure that Jimmy Stewart was simply delusional that when there actually turned out to be a murder, it was almost jarring.

Double Post.

"Rear Window"- probably one of the ten or so genuinely perfect movies. I still get a bit sweaty near the end, even though I've seen it dozens of times.

Interesting, how different people see it. I always thought there was a murder, always thought that Jimmy Stewart was right. I just figured everyone else figured he was delusional from being cooped up for so long.

Or bored. Given that his job was big-time photographer and he'd lived the exciting life of traveling around the world and putting himself in mortal danger to get the shot...the prospect of sitting around the apartment would've likely (or so it might have been thought) driven him cabin-fevered enough to bring a little fictional excitement into his days.

Although....personally....the thought that Grace Kelly could waltz into my apartment on a regular basis and beg me to keep her from being lonely would sort of lend itself to generating a certain amount of excitement on a freakin regular basis.

I said this in another thread (Classics, I believe), but if Grace was my girl, I wouldn't be staring out no damn window.

But on the same note, if you were Jimmy Stewart, you'd be used to a higher echelon of woman. Plus, his desire to fuck Grace blind was thwarted by his desire to not be married.

...

My all-time favorite film.

This was in the category of classic films I had thus far managed to not see. I just watched it this week. It made me want to beat up people who refuse to watch old movies.

This thing is just flat-out amazing. The massive set, the choreographing of the movement behind the windows with the camera movement, the incredible dialogue...and that chilling moment when Raymond Burr finally looks straight into Stewart's window. Just an amazing piece of work.

I'm going to have to reorganize my top 40 now.

There is no higher echelon of woman.

EDIT to point out that I know what Ripoli was saying, and don't argue the point. My post was just a re-iteration of the fact that Grace Kelly is the pinnacle of woman-hood.

Well...her, and maybe Helen of Troy. And possibly Julie Newmar on a quiet Saturday evening. Or something.

Fun Fact about Rear Window that I'm sure many of you already know: The music is all incidental, coming from the setting rather than a score. Most of it comes from the piano player in the penthouse, who is went on to be "Dave" of Alvin and the Chipmunks fame.

I did notice the lack of score, and the fact that the music was actually "there". It was one of the many things that was so damned brilliant.

I agree. Funny thing is there was an interview with Danny Elfman on NPR just this morning, and he talked mostly about his hero Bernard Herrmann. Apparently Hitchcock was slightly obsessed with the idea of a film with no score whatsoever. I guess Rear Window didn't count, because that scoreless movie was almost Psycho until Herrmann convinced him otherwise.

It did of course end up being The Birds, with Herrmann supervising the sound effects.

Other great 'ambient' soundtracks: Touch of Evil, American Graffiti, and The Last Picture Show.

Well, that was incredible. Watching it is like going fishing- you reel in what you think has happened then it takes off away from you again. Just an astoundingly well constructed film. The movie isn't afraid to be ambiguous regarding voyeurism- to what extent do people need to be watched, and how do we make that call?

Grace Kelly is pitch perfect with her character (as is Stewart), and god damn if the ending doesn't make me smile.

This is definitely the Hitchcock I enjoy the most. It's the one I still feel tense. It has a nice bounce to it. The actors are great. I love the little subplots in all the windows. It's not grimy or self-consciously dark. The plot's kind of dangerous, but it's more fun than anything else. Some of Hitchcock's other films I watch and it feels like an academic exercise. I can't watch VERTIGO without thinking of all those philosophical, psychological, etc. theories that college is flooded with, for example. But this one is just great entertainment.

Which is really important for the movie, as if it was too dark you wouldn't have the lingering doubts about whether anything had actually taken place. The tone of the movie is perfect for what it wants to achieve.

Compare that to DISTURBIA. Especially because they cast David Morse.

Love this movie. It's the first Hitchcock I saw, and what an introduction. Next to Silence of the Lambs, this is one of the most purely tense films I've ever seen. It's also incredibly written, witty and smart ("In my neighborhood, they still nag"), and Hitchcock makes some great, subtle observations about voyeurism and the nature of film. I'm thinking particularly of the famous scene where Lisa goes to investigate Thorwald's apartment and very nearly gets caught because she can't see Thorwald coming back, but Jeff and the audience can. The curious thing is that Jeff makes no move to help her at all; sure, there's not much he can do, but it's interesting how he's so caught up in watching that he forgets that he can still be an active participant.

Yeah, I still find this one keeps me on the edge of my seat no matter how many times I've seen it: even if the "suspense" wears off after repeat viewings, there's that discomfort inherent in the voyeurism that never completely goes away.

Apart from it being a great film, a revival showing of this movie was the first date I went on with my wife, and that's worked out pretty well.

It's a great one to show to people, especially if they're new to Hitchcock. You see them take it all in, relaxing with the characters. It's so much of a hangout movie that it puts them at ease, despite the morbid subject matter.

Then, at the end, they're literally at the edge of their seats. And since the movie works so amazing well, you find that you are too.

I was in a film class in college, and I was the only person in the class that had seen Rear Window before the class screening. Hearing the entire class gasp when Raymond Burr looks directly into the camera is one of my favorite filmgoing experiences.

I love how the third act begins. There's the discovery of the dead dog, and Jeff realises that the only person who hasn't come out to see the commotion is Thorwald. Jeff, Lisa and Stella look across at Thorwald's pitch black apartment and for a second you see the glow of a lit cigarette, as if Thorwald is sat in the dark, watching them. It's a wonderful creepy moment and it's a great transition into the outright suspense of the last twenty minutes in comparison to the more playful first and second acts. Each new Hitchcock film I see seems to be better than the last, but this feels like a genuine masterpiece. The set itself is incredible and the way that Hitchcock choreographs his camera movements around the different apartments is kind of breathtaking in its simplicity. Hitchcock so far comes across as something of a stage director and the Apartment Complex is like one large, multi-faceted, stage for him to work on. There are so many moments which are just masterful because of his use of the space afforded to him but my favourite is the wide shot which has Lisa on one side of the shot and Thorwald returning home on the other side of the shot. It's a beautiful use of space and it creates tension almost effortlessly. 

 

Jimmy Stewart is kind of amazing as Jeff. I know a lot of people have cognitive dissonance with Stewart's darker Hitchcock roles, but as someone not familiar with Stewart's work I find him to be a fantastic foil for Hitchcock. He's got the humour and timing to make Hitchcock's humour really sing, but he's also able to tap into a darkness which never feels showy. Jeff isn't a traditional dark character but his voyeurism is played both for comedy and to shade the character. Until the second half you're not entirely sure if Jeff is actually made or not, there's a weird, twitchy, energy to his performance which never overpowers the character but makes him feel fully formed. Love the use of incidental music and the way that each person Jimmy spies on has their own individual story with a beginning, middle and end. So far it's my favourite Hitchcock, but I'm work chronologically so I know I've got a few of his classics to go. 

Another thing about the 'dead dog' development: It's the first time (of only two) in the film that the camera takes up a point-of-view outside Jeff's apartment. Each of the neighbors gets their own special angle and we see them as humans with lives of their own. It's jarring enough, in the right way, that it helps me buy the dog lady's monologue, which is rather on-the-nose about the movie's theme though it serves to shake up Jeff and Lisa as well.

Edited by Hammerhead - 3/25/11 at 12:55pm