[Thoughts] Rear Window [Review]

Today I want to review a film from 1954!

Story

Jeff, a photographer, breaks his leg in an accident and is confined to a wheelchair. The one pleasure left to him is watching the lives of the residents in the apartment building opposite, through the telephoto lens of his camera, from his rear window. One day the wife of a middle-aged couple who never stop arguing suddenly vanishes. Jeff, who has been watching the suspicious behaviour of the husband — apparently a salesman — becomes convinced from a pile of circumstantial evidence that a murder has taken place. He begins investigating with his girlfriend Lisa. As the two try to find hard proof, hoping to convince a detective friend who refuses to believe them, danger closes in…
— Wikipedia

Thoughts

This one is by the master himself — Hitchcock!!

An extraordinary figure who invented a great many of the techniques and ideas we now take completely for granted in film.

The shoot was remarkably inventive. They worked on a huge sound stage, using forced perspective throughout: putting up real buildings, painting in the ones meant to sit further off, and adjusting the dimensions of things so the images would carry more punch. I imagine the DVD bonus features go into the details lol

The main thread: our hero, in a wheelchair with a broken leg, comes to suspect that a murder has taken place in the salesman’s apartment he can see from his rear window, and starts digging.

What makes the film so interesting is that the setting is almost entirely the one room the hero is sitting in.

He’s in a wheelchair, so he can’t move lol

And with far too much time on his hands, our hero starts prying into the neighbourhood with a pair of binoculars lol

Watching him work up all sorts of theories along the way — that household must have such-and-such going on, and so forth — was hugely entertaining.

The climax had me on the edge of my seat. Here’s your hint: he’s in a wheelchair, so he can’t move.

Because it’s 1954 there are no mobile phones, no proper air conditioning, and the wheelchair itself is a fairly old-fashioned model — which makes it a fascinating watch from a cultural angle as much as a suspense one.