Jimmy Stewart plays Jeff, a commitment-phobic photo journalist who spends his time observing his neighbours from the rear window of his apartment, while he recuperates from a broken leg.
He has a glamorous socialite girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), who wants to marry him but he feels they are too different to be compatible. While he is confined to a wheelchair and unable to escape on assignments, he is forced to evaluate their relationship and considers breaking up with her but Stella, his physical therapist tells him he's being foolish.
One night while dozing in front of the window, he hears a scream from outside. The following morning the wife of one his neighbours, Mr. Thorwald has mysteriously vanished and after observing more closely, Jeff becomes convinced that he has murdered her.
He confides his suspicions to Lisa and Stella, who don't believe him at first, but soon they too are drawn in and try to help Jeff solve the mystery behind Mrs. Thorwald's disappearance.
The movie was shot entirely from inside Jeff's apartment, giving the movie an intimate, voyeuristic feel (a conscious artistic choice from Hitchcock), which I love.
There is plenty of the usual mystery and suspense that you'd expect from a Hitchcock movie, but by far my most favourite aspect of the movie is the evolution of Grace Kelly's character, Lisa. At the beginning of the movie Jeff is reluctant to commit to her because he considers her too prissy and feminine, instead preferring a woman who is pluckier and with a sense of adventure, like himself. But she proves him wrong when she goes to extreme and dangerous lengths to help him prove Thorwald's guilt and shows that she's more than just the pretty face he considered her to be.
He has a glamorous socialite girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), who wants to marry him but he feels they are too different to be compatible. While he is confined to a wheelchair and unable to escape on assignments, he is forced to evaluate their relationship and considers breaking up with her but Stella, his physical therapist tells him he's being foolish.
One night while dozing in front of the window, he hears a scream from outside. The following morning the wife of one his neighbours, Mr. Thorwald has mysteriously vanished and after observing more closely, Jeff becomes convinced that he has murdered her.
He confides his suspicions to Lisa and Stella, who don't believe him at first, but soon they too are drawn in and try to help Jeff solve the mystery behind Mrs. Thorwald's disappearance.
The movie was shot entirely from inside Jeff's apartment, giving the movie an intimate, voyeuristic feel (a conscious artistic choice from Hitchcock), which I love.
There is plenty of the usual mystery and suspense that you'd expect from a Hitchcock movie, but by far my most favourite aspect of the movie is the evolution of Grace Kelly's character, Lisa. At the beginning of the movie Jeff is reluctant to commit to her because he considers her too prissy and feminine, instead preferring a woman who is pluckier and with a sense of adventure, like himself. But she proves him wrong when she goes to extreme and dangerous lengths to help him prove Thorwald's guilt and shows that she's more than just the pretty face he considered her to be.