STACK #200 Jun 2021

FEATURE EXTRAS

REAR WINDOW (1954) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

absent wife is simply visiting friends. As Jeff's anxiety grows, the viewer is caught up in his compulsive sleuthing, which will

TRIVIA: Alfred Hitchcock's obligatory cameo: He is seen through the window of the songwriter's apartment winding a clock.

ultimately lead to a memorable and

gripping finale. Hitchcock cast his "Mr Reliable", James Stewart, as the immobile Peeping Tom. Few actors have given such a riveting performance from such a

A lfred Hitchcock's preoccupation with the subject of voyeurism came to full fruition in Rear Window , one of his greatest productions. His 1954 film was based on a story that first appeared in a 1942 issue of Dime Detective Magazine under the title "It Had to Be Murder". The adapted screenplay, written by John Michael Hayes, was offered to Hitchcock as his

carrying a large silver-coloured suitcase several times during the night. The next day, the invalid wife appears to be missing and Jeff watches the salesman wrap up a saw and knife and then meticulously clean the bathroom. When Jeff tells Lisa that he suspects the salesman has murdered his wife she doesn't believe him and scoffs that he should not keep looking through other people's windows for excitement. But gradually, both Lisa and Stella

static position. Stewart, with his drawling and well- loved mannerisms, was Hitchcock's choice for his most personal roles. Likewise, the beautiful Grace Kelly, who was Hitchcock's perfect blonde actress to whom all subsequent actresses never quite measured up, was given the role of Jeff's glamorous fiancée, Lisa. Dry, cynical humour was provided by the wonderful veteran actress Thelma Ritter, who played the nurse Stella. Another major part of the success of Rear Window was the elaborate single set that was designed and built on Paramount's Stage 18. Constructed from scratch, it contained 30 apartments (eight of them fully furnished) and a courtyard that contained gardens, trees and fire escapes, all capped with a Manhattan skyline – aptly described by one critic as a vast living doll's house. Hitchcock positioned himself and his cameras within Stewart's single apartment set for the whole shoot. He then directed and instructed the cast, ensconced in the opposite apartments, through tiny flesh-coloured earphones they all wore. This was quite deliberate, as from the beginning of the film to the end, the viewer is enclosed in Jeff's apartment and allowed to see only what he sees through the multiple windows of the apartment complex. Nominated for four Academy Awards, Rear Window has been deservedly voted by many film historians as the first Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece of the half dozen or so that would follow over the next two decades. Jeff (James Stewart) attempts to convince Stella (Thelma Ritter) and Lisa (Grace Kelly) that a murder has occurred in a neighbouring apartment

first film for Paramount after he moved fromWarner Bros. The plot, which is confined to one setting for the entire film, was so contained that it became the archetypal classic drama, but Hitchcock magically made it fully cinematic. The film's protagonist L.B. Jefferies, nicknamed Jeff, is a photojournalist who through an accident is confined to a wheelchair with his leg in plaster. Out of total boredom he becomes obsessed watching the private dramas of his neighbours as they play out through their windows across the courtyard of his Greenwich Village apartment complex. Among the various occupants, to whom Jeff attaches non de plumes, are the Torso girl, a beautiful dancer with many men friends; Miss Lonelyhearts, a loveless older woman who pretends men visit her; the Newlyweds, who reveal their intimacy as their shades are constantly pulled up and down; the childless couple who dote on their little dog, who they lower up and down in a wicker basket for it to carry out its necessary ablutions in the courtyard garden; the musician/songwriter who apparently cannot sell his songs; and a sad-looking salesman with an invalid wife. Jeff has daily visits from Stella, his nurse therapist, and his elegant fashion-editor fiancée Lisa Fremont – both of whom berate him for spying on his neighbours' lives. One night as he dozes by his open window, Jeff hears a scream. Using binoculars and his camera's tele-photo lens, he sees the salesman leave his apartment

begin to believe that there was a possibility of foul play. Subsequently, Jeff gets his detective friend to investigate, which he does, but is told by the salesman, whose name is Lars Thorwald, that his

Hitchcock's incredible single set, built on Paramount's Stage 18

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