Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Synopsis: Convinced that one of his neighbours has murdered his wife, the invalid photographer, Jeffries (Stewart), goes to great lengths to compile evidence and convince everyone that the neighbour is guilty.

Located entirely within the confines of an apartment complex, Hitchcock’s Rear Window gives Psycho genuine competition where it concerns his greatest picture, and if it weren’t for the iconic shower scene in the latter I’d have no reservations in telling you that this is better. When the singular flaw you can find is Stewart’s character being an idiot for not marrying his breathtaking girlfriend, Lisa (Kelly) asap, you know you’ve watched a great one.

Unlike my other Hitchcock favourites, the aforementioned Psycho and his eerie 1964 picture, The Birds, what I love about Window is the suspense created without a weapon being used or a drop of blood being shown. Through Stewarts’ paranoid performance and the insistence of his friend, Doyle (Corey) that the antagonist Thorwald (Burr) is innocent, we’re left with enough uncertainty as to whether a murder has actually been committed that keeps us oh so invested. After the truth is confirmed, it’s done so courtesy of one of Hitchcock’s finest scenes of intensity.

One area where Rear Window also shines is in its subplots and sub-characters. We’re given a reason to be interested in the imperfect character of L.B. Jeffries as a result of his so/so relationship with Lisa, and his caution to fully commit adds even more of a reality to a film that’s given a boatload of depth by the way of focus on the neighbours, the failing piano player and the pretty ballerina; the dog-owning couple who love to sleep out on their balcony, and of course Miss Lonelyhearts, looking for love but seemingly never going to find it.

In just over an hour and a half and in one indoor set in Paramount Studios, Hitchcock creates several freshly laid out characters of a community that many filmmakers could only dream of making in a trilogy of films. Combine that with a premise that’s so unique it’s been parodied endlessly from music videos by The Rolling Stones to entire episode plots of The Simpsons. This really should be mandatory viewing.

Rating: 5/5