May 9, 2002
Rear Window (1954)
by Rebecca Ormsby, SUNY Fredonia
USA. Color. 112 minutes. VHS
and DVD. Director: Alfred
Hitchcock. Writing Credits: John
Michael Hayes and Cornell Woolrich (story It had to be Murder). Original Music by: Franz Waxman. Cinematography: Robert Burks. Film Editing: George Tomasini. Art Direction: J. McMillan Johnson, Hal
Pereira. Special Effects: John P.
Fulton.
Cast
James Stewart (L.B. ‘Jeff’
Jeffries)
Grace Kelly (Lisa Carol
Fremont)
Wendell Corey (Lt. Thomas J.
Doyle)
Thelma Ritter (Stella)
Raymond Burr (Lars Thorwald)
Judith Evelyn (Miss
Lonelyheart)
Ross Bagdasarian (Songwriter)
Georgine Darcy (Miss Torso,
Ballet Dancer)
Sara Berner (Woman on the
Fire Escape)
Frank Cady (Man on the Fire
Escape)
Jesslyn Fax (Miss Hearing
Aid)
Rand Harper (Newlywed Man)
Irene Winston (Mrs. Anna
Thorwald)
Havis Davenport (Newlywed
Woman)
Synopsis
L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries is a
photojournalist who has broken his leg in an accident while on a photo
shoot. To occupy the weeks until the
cast can be removed, he entertains himself by watching the activities of his
neighbors whom he can see through the RearWindow of his apartment. He is visited by his nurse, Stella, and by
his girl friend, Lisa Fremont. After
several discussions about his life and where it is going with both Stella and
Lisa, Jeff turns his attention more closely toward those beyond his
apartment. After he observes the odd
behavior of Lars Thorwald, his neighbors in the apartment opposite his, he
becomes suspicious. Jeff begins to
believe that Thorwald has killed his wife.
In Jeff's pursuit of evidence to prove his theory to be correct, he
enlists the help and enthusiasm of both Stella and Lisa. After watching Thorwald clean his knives and
saws and send out a large trunk, Jeff calls in an old cop friend, Lt. Doyle,
who is skeptical that any crime has actually been committed. Doyle reluctantly follows up on a few
leads. He checks out the story at the
train station and the place where the trunk was sent. All things seem to be in order.
Everyone is so wrapped up in the actions of the man across the way, that
they become disappointed when the evidence looks to clear Thorwald of any wrong
doing and that his wife is actually vacationing as he said she was. Until they observe Thorwald with the wife's
jewelry. Then Lisa becomes suspicious,
again. No woman who was vacationing of
her own free will would do so without her jewelry. As Lisa and Stella investigate, Thorwald returns and the tension
rises. As Jeff calls to cops to save
Lisa from harm, Thorwald notices Jeff and heads for an encounter. After a struggle and a few flashes of light,
Thorwald is caught and another leg is broken.
Summaries of Critical
Responses to the Film
Crowther, Bosley. “Rear Window.” Rev. of Rear Window.
The New York Times 5 August 1954: 18
This reviewer, Bosley
Crowther, places the most emphasis on the act of Peeping Tomism. It is the main theme throughout the piece
and makes the audience aware that they are guilty of doing the same, given the
opportunity. Crowther feels as though
Hitchcock was clever when he placed these shots together, casually putting the
more meaningful shots in between shots that were merely visually stimulating. He also states that he doesn’t feel that
this film is “significant,” but one that does indeed explore city life and
human nature. Crowther gives us a
positive take on the film, while telling us that it isn’t the most exciting and
innovative film of the year, but one that is worth watching.
I believe that this is a
rather bland review. It states that the
film is worth watching if you had to, but I wouldn't run right out and watch it
after reading this review. Crowther merely
gives an overview of what is happening, but doesn't explore any issues or themes.
McCarten, John. “Rear Window.” Rev. of Rear Window.
The New Yorker.
7 August 1954: 50
In this review, McCarten
explores the relationship between the hero Jeffries and the young woman that
comes to visit, Lisa. The opposite
lifestyles that Jeffries and Lisa have create friction between them. Jeffries is the traveling photographer out
to get the story, eating and sleeping anywhere and anything to get by. Lisa is a city girl used to having whatever
she wants whenever she wants it. These
two lifestyles don't mesh well together.
Jeffries realizes this and tries to explain it to Lisa. McCarten also examines the relationship
between Jeffries and his cop friend, making a comparison between their
professions, stating "an ounce of intuition on the part of a photographer
is worth a pound of pragmatism on the part of a cop." McCarten concludes the review wondering why
Hitchcock got involved with this film.
He believes that it is just another stagnant piece that Hitchcock had a
hand in and is wondering when Hitchcock will really let loose with another
satisfactory film.
This review is a bit
conflicting. There are some good parts
that examine things in an interesting way, but the film is a bit slow paced for
McCarten, apparently. There are parts of
the film that seem to drag on a bit but isn’t that the way it would be if we
were sitting there watching out the window?
Everyone's lives are not constantly full of action; there are dull times
as well. I got the impression that
McCarten was disappointed with the film.
He was expecting something better and grudgingly found something to say
about the film anyway.
Zunser, Jesse. “Rear Window.” Rev. of Rear Window.
Cue 7 August 1954: 15
In this review, Jesse Zunser
gives an enthusiastic synopsis of the film Rear Window. Regarding this as one of Hitchcock’s best
works, he goes on to tell of the building suspense and the “screaming,
murderous climax.” Zunser also marvels
at how there is no violence, or anything else of the like, shown on
screen. Hitchcock leaves the horror to
the imagination of the viewer. This is
not a complex storyline, but a simple one that can be seen in everyday
life. It starts out kind of lazy and then
builds into a thrill ride.
This is a positive review in
my opinion, it tells the story of the film without giving too much away. I can tell that Zunser is a great fan of
Hitchcock and you can tell through his review.
After reading this review, I would search out the film to watch it.
Canby, Vincent. “’Rear Window’--Still a Joy…” Rev. of Rear Window. The New York Times 9 Oct. 1983: 11:21:1
In this review, Vincent Canby
relives Rear Window, calling it “the most bittersweet of Hitchcockian
suspense-romances.” He claims that it
is as much a romance as a suspense film.
He also explains why this film is so good, stating that it doesn’t have
to be analyzed to death to get something out of it, it is all there for the
viewer to see. Canby also tells about
the story, saying that the events of the suspense part related directly to the
love story that is going on between the Grace Kelly and James Stewart
characters. He gives the film’s
production elements a good review, stating that it is a character in itself. Canby believes the film to be timeless in a
sense. There was some criticism at the
time of the film's release about the blatant voyeurism that was portrayed, even
though many people have been known to peek from time to time. Canby concludes the review with a summary of
Grace Kelly’s career. This review gives
insight into what it is like to watch a film at the time of its release and
then not again until nearly thirty years later. Canby believes that this film stands the test of time and is
worth seeing again.
I thought this review was
enthusiastic. Canby thought highly of
the film at its release and still believes it is worth seeing again no matter
the year. He also explores more than
just the basic themes, he delves into the under-story of the film and explores
that as well. A thorough review that
was well thought out and supported.
Background Information
Rear Window was Hitchcock’s favorite film next to Shadow Of A
Doubt (Nash 2552).
Hitchcock supposedly hired
Raymond Burr to play Lars Thorwald because he could easily be made to look like
his old producer David O. Selznick, whom Hitchcock felt interfered too much.
All the sound in the film is
diegetic, meaning that all the music, speech, and other sounds come from within
the world of the film.
At the time the set was the
largest indoor set built at Paramount Studios.
Other than a couple of shots
near the end and the discovery of the dead dog all shots originate from Jeff’s
apartment.
The size of the set
necessitated excavation of the soundstage floor. Thus Jeff’s apartment was actually at street level.
During the month-long shoot,
“Miss Torso” “lived” in her apartment all day, relaxing between takes as if
really at home.
While shooting, Hitchcock
worked only in Jeff’s “apartment.” The
other actors wore flesh colored earpieces so that he could direct them from
afar.
One thousand arc lights were
used to simulate sunlight. Thanks to
extensive pre-lighting of the set, the crew could make the changeover from day
to night in less than forty-five minutes.
(All
the above from IMDB.com, "Rear Window.")
Knowing he would be accused
of promoting voyeurism, Hitchcock added this comment spoken by Stella, “We’ve
become a race of Peeping Toms. People
ought to get outside and look in at themselves” (Nash 2552).
The set was constructed
including 31 full-scale apartments on the biggest set ever constructed at
Paramount. “We had 12 of those
apartments completely furnished,” Hitchcock later commented. “We could never have gotten them properly
lit in a real location” (Nash 2552).
All of the apartments in Thorwald’s building had electricity and running
water and could be lived in (IMDB.com "Rear Window").
There was no mention of Grace
Kelly for Rear Window at the time of Dial M For Murder in which
she first worked with Hitchcock and first heard about the film, so it was a
surprise when back in New York she got a call from her agent telling her
Hitchcock expected her for wardrobe fitting for Rear Window. At the same time, she was offered the role
that went to Eva Marie Saint in Elia Kazan’s On The Waterfront. That picture was being made in New York
which suited her better than returning to Los Angeles, but after reading the
script, she went to California (Spoto 345).
Hitchcock selected every gown
to be worn by Grace Kelly in the film, right down to the shoes (Nash 2552-53). “There was a reason for every color, every
style,” said Edith Head, costume designer, “For one scene, he saw her in pale
green, for another in white chiffon, for another in gold.” The pale green suit is carried out in the
brilliant green outfit worn by “Miss Lonelyhearts” later in the film, thus
relating Kelly’s character to the other women in the film (Spoto 348).
While rehearsing the scene
where Kelly wears a sheer nightgown, Hitchcock called Head aside and suggested
adding a little something to Kelly’s bustline. In Kelly’s dressing room, Head told Kelly that there was a false
pleat in the gown and that Hitchcock wanted her to put in falsies. Kelly stated that if they were to use
falsies they would show through the gown, besides which she refused to wear
them. So they took it up here and
adjusted it there. Kelly went back out
and stood as straight as possible and Hitchcock commented to Head, “See what a
difference they make?” (Spoto 348-49).
When five of Hitchcock's
films were re-released, Hitchcock did the blurbs himself, reflecting his unique
sense of humor. One such blurb ran, “Rear
Window is such a frightening picture that one should never see it unless
accompanied by an audience” (Nash 2553).
Some of the ideas relating to
the killing and the discarding of the body were taken from actual news items
found by Alfred Hitchcock in the British press. One was the Patrick Mahon case and the other was the case of Dr.
Crippen. Mahon killed a girl in a
bungalow on the seafront of southern England.
He cut up the body and threw it, piece by piece, out of a train
window. But didn’t know what to do with
the head. This is where Hitchcock got
the idea of adding the search for the head into the film. Mahon ended up putting the head in the
fireplace to burn it, but right as he was placing the head in the fire, a
thunderstorm came on, with lightening and thunder. In a weird reaction to the heat and such, the eyes on the head
popped open and sent Mahon screaming out into the storm. One of the chief inspectors of Scotland Yard
later told Hitchcock that they were having problems pinpointing the time at
which the head was placed into the fire and so he went and bought a sheep’s
head and burned it in the same fireplace to get the time right. It was a bit bazaar.
The other case, involving Dr.
Crippen, took place mostly in London.
He murdered his wife and cut her up.
When asked where the wife was, Crippen replied that she was gone to California. But he made a crucial blunder. He allowed his secretary to wear some of his
wife’s jewelry, which caused the neighbors to start talking. When questioned by Inspector Dew with the
Scotland Yard, he gave the story about her having gone to live in California. Inspector Dew was ready to give up, but
returned for a technicality to find that Crippen had run away with the
secretary. A description of the couple
was given to all ships at sea. On board
the steamship Montrose, headed for Montreal, the Captain noticed a Mr. Robinson
and his young son. He also noticed that
the father was particularly affectionate with the youth and was wearing a hat
that was filled with paper to make it fit and the youth’s pants were held
together with a safety pin at the waist.
After confirming the distinguishing marks of Dr. Crippen, the Captain
wired a message stating that he believed that the wanted couple was aboard his
ship. Ironically enough, while the
message was being transmitted, Dr. Crippen was passing by the radio room and
commented, “The wireless is a wonderful invention, isn’t it?” Inspector Dew got aboard a fast ship and met
the Montrose at Father Point on the St. Lawrence River and walked up to
Mr. Robinson and said “Good Morning, Dr. Crippen.” He brought them back.
Crippen was hanged and the girl got off. This was were he got the idea for the jewelry being a key piece
of the puzzle (Hitchcock qtd in Truffaut 222-223).
Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock was born
only one day before his wife, Alma Reville who later worked closely with him on
his films. Alma and Alfred had one
daughter, Patricia, who appeared in several of his movies, Stage Fright
(1950), Strangers On A Train (1951), and Psycho (1960). Hitchcock made famous cameo appearances in
his films, which he did in the beginning because he knew viewers were watching
for him and he didn’t want to distract their attention away from the action of
the story. Hitchcock likes to insert
shots of a woman’s hairstyle, frequently close-ups. When finishing a cup of tea while on the set, Hitchcock would
often non-discriminately toss the cup and saucer over his shoulder, letting it
fall (or break) wherever it may.
Alfred Hitchcock appears on a
32 cent US postage stamp, in the legends of Hollywood series, which debuted on
August 3rd of 1998 in Los Angeles, California.
Hitchcock never won a best
director Oscar in competition, although he was awarded the Irving Thalberg
Memorial Award at the 1967 Oscars, where he then delivered the shortest
acceptance speech in Oscar history by simply saying: “Thank you.” In 1979 Hitchcock was awarded the American
Film Institute Life Achievement Award.
(All
the above from IMDB.com, "Alfred Hitchcock.")
James Stewart
James Stewart attended
Princeton University where he studied architecture and graduated in 1932. Stewart is married to Gloria Hatrick McLean
with whom he has four children: Kelly and Judy (twins) and his wife’s sons from
a previous marriage, Ronald and Michel.
Stewart was the first movie
star to enter the service for World War II, joining a year before Pearl Harbor
was bombed. He eventually became
Colonel, flew more than 1,000 missions over enemy territory, and earned the Air
Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Croix de Guerre and 7 battle
stars. In 1959, serving in the Air
Force Reserves, he became a brigadier general.
He is the highest-ranking actor in military history.
In 1980 James Stewart
received the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. Stewart also did considerable voice-over
work, including a delightful turn as Wylie Burp, an aged sheriff, in the 1991
animated film An American Tale: Fievel Goes West.
(All
the above from IMDB.com, "James Stewart.")
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly’s father and
brother were both Olympic gold-medal scullers.
Grace’s cousin, former US Secy. of Navy John Lehman, Jr. now chairs the
Princess Grace Foundation. Her uncle
was the popular playwright George Kelly.
In 1956 Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco. They have three children, Princess Caroline
(1957), Prince Albert (1958), Princess Stephanie (1966). Her movies are banned in Monaco by order of
Prince Rainier.
Kelly sat on the board of
20th Century-Fox for several years lent her presence to documentaries and
assisted in the pre-production of The Grace Kelly Story starring Cheryl
Ladd as Grace Kelly.
In 1993, the USA and Monaco
simultaneously released a commemorative postage stamp honoring her. However, USA federal law forbids postage
stamps depicting foreign heads of state, so the USA stamp listed her as “Grace
Kelly”, while the Monaco stamp listed her as “Princess Grace”.
(All
the above from IMDB.com, "Grace Kelly.")
Critical Analysis
As we go about our daily
lives, we are often caught gazing at another person in the middle of some
aspect of their life. We find ourselves
stopping and checking out what they are doing and where they are going without
thinking about the fact that we are acting as voyeurs. There are many people in society who
actively engage in the sport of people watching. Although it is not as invasive as peeping in windows from afar,
it is still voyeurism, an act that we are all guilty of in one way or
another. A wonderful example of
voyeurism and its consequences is the Alfred Hitchcock film, Rear Window. In it the lead character takes up the
pastime of gazing out his apartment’s rear window at the residents across the
way and becomes suspicious that a husband has killed his wife. This is an exercise in voyeurism and we will
explore it in this paper.
The film opens, we are gazing
at LB Jeffries resting in his wheelchair.
The camera pans across the scene, to show a smashed camera and photos of
a race car accident and of a beautiful woman.
The way that the camera drifts from one object to another as though
lazily gazing about the room taking in what it can, we are made to feel as
though we are voyeurs ourselves, looking through a window or door and glancing
about the room. These images also give
us the information about how Jeffries was injured. We can deduce that the camera and man were injured in the race
car accident that was caught in the photograph. We can also assume that the woman in the other photo will become
a part of the story.
Jeffries takes up the
“boorish but fascinating pastime of peeking into other people’s homes-- a thing
that New York apartment dwellers have a slight disposition to do” (Crowther
18). He begins to become interested in
the goings on of those around him he even comes up with names for those he
watches. The single woman makes
romantic dinners for her imaginary love is dubbed Miss Lonelyhearts. The frustrated musician who throws parties,
the couple that sleeps on the fire escape, the old lady artist, and the
newlyweds who can’t seem to get enough of each other are not given names. The husband and his invalid wife we learn
are the Thorwalds. Miss Torso is the
ballerina dancer with the nice body. It
is as though Jeffries is following a story that is being played out before him
for his own benefit. He gets just
enough information to keep him interested but not enough to satisfy his
curiosity. This experience is
comparable to how we sit and view "life" unfold on the movie
screen. We are led into the story at a
pace that is set by the director and we know only what the director wants us to
know when he wants us to know it.
Jeffries can only see what the "players" allow him to see and
only when they are in his range.
Everything else he must draw from his own experiences and
knowledge. In a way this film is about
watching films and how we are so drawn into watching what other people are
doing without regard to personal privacy.
We watch those people around as though they are actors on a movie screen
acting out some drama for our benefit alone.
We give no consideration to the consequences or to the personal emotions
of those being watched. To us they are
merely characters, not real people with real emotions.
All of these scenarios can
also be seen as the possibilities of love and marriage. We see what life can become if love never
finds us, Miss Lonelyhearts and quite possibly the Musician as well, both being
frustrated with life and love. We see
the couple who has a dog for a pet for lack of a child of their own. The stereotypical nagging wife and hounded
husband in the invalid wife couple. We
also see a beautiful woman who has all sorts of suitors but longs for the
simple sailor. And we see an old woman
whose passion is for art. The happy
newlyweds exchange the stereotypical roles of husband and wife so that the woman
is the eager one and the husband is the one getting worn out. Thus we see several variations of love. This idea of love and the possibilities
thereof relate to the story in that Jeffries has a lovely girlfriend that
wishes it was more, but Jeffries isn’t interested in marriage. He feels that she would never fit into his
world of adventure; she wouldn’t know how to live without all the creature
comforts that the big city can provide.
These variations of love reflect the possibilities ahead for Jeffries
and Lisa.
As Jeffries watches his
neighbors, he notices some suspicious behavior from the husband of the invalid
wife. He leaves a few times in the
middle of a rainy night with his suitcase and the blinds are drawn on the
bedroom window. The wife isn't seen the
next morning and Jeffries begins to believe that the husband, Thorwald, has
killed his wife. Later Thorwald is
observed cleaning a knife and saw. This
arouses Jeffries suspicions even more and leads him to call in his detective
friend, Lt. Doyle. As the plot thickens
and the leads turn out to be easily explained, we see how consuming voyeurism
can be.
We see that this kind of
past-time can be addictive as well as contagious. The nurse, Stella, and Lisa both become engrossed in the drama
that unfolds across the courtyard. Watching
other people live their lives can be interesting and even a bit more
interesting than our own lives. The
danger of all of this is revealed at the end of the film when the murderer
catches Jeffries watching and Jeffries gets a taste of what it feels like to be
watched. We are also reminded that we
are all voyeurs by the way that Hitchcock reminds us that we are watching a
movie and by doing so we are voyeuristically watching other people live their
lives without their knowledge so to speak.
All throughout this paper
I've said, "we see" several times.
This goes to show how much voyeurism has become part of our culture and
of society. We are a society that finds
pleasure in watching other people, in joy and in sorrow. But when we find ourselves on the receiving
end of the gaze, we begin to feel a bit vulnerable. We get a taste of what it is like to have our every move
criticized, often without their having full knowledge of what is really
happening. The viewer takes what is on
the surface without regard to what happens in our lives when they cannot see
us. Thus we are all victims of
voyeurism. Either as the object being
viewed or as the viewer being drawn into the scene from beyond. I believe this film is the perfect example
of both these sides and how very much it is a part of our culture today, even
though it was produced in 1954. These
are all still issues that we face today and everyday. So the next time you stop to watch the people around you,
remember that there are people that have stopped and are watching you as well.
Works Cited
“Alfred Hitchcock.” Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 08 April
2002.
<http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Hitchcock,+Alfred>.
Crowther, Bosley. “Rear Window.”
Rev. of Rear Window. The New York Times 05 August 1954:18
“Grace Kelly.” Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 08 April 2002. <http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Kelly,+Grace>.
“James Stewart.” Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 08 April
2002. <http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Stewart,+James>.
Nash, Jay Robert, and Stanley
Ralph Ross. “Rear Window.” The Motion Picture Guide. Vol. N-R 1927-1983. Chicago: Cinebooks,
Inc., 1986. 2552-2553.
“RearWindow.” Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 12
February 2002.
<http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0047396>.
Spoto, Donald. The Dark Side Of Genius: The Life Of
Alfred Hitchcock. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1983.
Truffaut, Franois. Hitchcock. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984.