MAIN TITLE Arts and Entertainment
Article Title Hitchcock - Rear window
Through his rear window and the eye of his powerful camera a photo journalist watches
a great city tell on itself, expose its cheating ways and Murder!
The movie is about
voyeurism and to a lesser degree about love between two apparently different people.
Rear Window is a 1954 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on Cornell Woolrich's
1942 short story It Had to Be Murder. It stars James Stewart as photojournalist L.
B. Jefferies, Grace Kelly as his fashion model girlfriend Lisa Carol Fremont, and
Raymond Burr as the suspected killer, Lars Thorwald.
The film is considered by many
film goers to be one of Hitchcock's best and most thrilling pictures.
L. B. "Jeff"
Jefferies is a professional photographer who has been confined to his Greenwich Village
apartment after an accident has left him with his leg in a cast,he takes to spying
on his neighbours through the rear window. His view of the back of several apartment
buildings, their inner courtyard, and the persons dwelling within. Jeff comes to
believe a murder has taken place in the building across the courtyard, though his
friends, his nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter), and his girlfriend, Lisa Carol Fremont
(Grace Kelly) initially think his beliefs are imagined, and put them down to his
idle behaviour.
Thorwald and his wife are a reversal of Jeff and Lisa. Thorwald looks
after his invalid wife just as Lisa looks after the invalid Jeff. They were actually
a newlywed couple who rarely leave their bedroom. But this develops into trouble
for their marriage and Thorwald and his wife begin to argue.The constant nagging
of the wife sets the stage for murder.
The character of Lars Thorwald is not seen
in close-up and cannot be heard speaking clearly until the climax of the movie. At
this point, he appears in Jeff's room. This scene features a
sequence shown from
Thorwald's point of view as he attempts to proceed
towards Jeff, but is repeatedly
stopped as Jeff blinds him with the flash from his camera. But Lars does suceed in
pushing Jeff out of the window just as the police arrive and arrest Lars for the
murder of his wife.
Jeff survives and the film ends with the planning of his future
with Liza.
This movie has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States
Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.The
film received four Academy Award nominations. [1]Best Director for Alfred Hitchcock,[2]
Best Screenplay for John Michael Hayes,[3]Best Cinematography, Color for Robert Burks,[4]
Best Sound Recording by Loren L. Ryder, Paramount Pictures.
About the Author
Andrew Conway is an author,writer and Classic movie buff. He has written numerious articles pertaining to the entertainment field. If you truely love old classic movies, please visit: http://www.ultimate-free-downloads.com