Rear Window (1954)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey

Synopsis:
A photographer confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg watches his neighbors to pass the time and begins to suspect one of them of murder.

Impressions:
I've never been the sort to take much interest in the lives of total strangers and people watching isn't on my list of hobbies. As such, the sort of mentality behind a budding voyeur is quite alien to me and therefore rather interesting to observe. Oh, sure, our protagonist starts out of simple boredom, but particularly when he starts suspecting a neighbor of murder does he become dangerously obsessed. It's a credit to the movie that it keeps you guessing to the end, with about an even division of potential evidence and plausible denials. I like how other people get sucked into his fixation. Jimmy Stewart is solid in the lead, Grace Kelly brings a lot of elegance to the role of his girlfriend, and I rather liked Thelma Ritter as a blunt-speaking nurse. Also, though he mostly has a distant presence, Raymond Burr is quite creepy as the suspected murderer. It's a well-crafted film and well worth watching.

Rating:
Watch It