Rear Window (1954)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

John Michael Hayes (screenplay)
Cornell Woolrich (short story "It Had to Be Murder")

Release Date:

14 January 1955 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Through his rear window and the eye of his powerful camera he watched a great city tell on itself, expose its cheating ways...and Murder!

Plot:

A wheelchair bound photographer spies on his neighbours from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Neighbor | Nurse | Window | Salesman

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

James Stewart	...	L. B. 'Jeff' Jefferies
Grace Kelly	...	Lisa Carol Fremont
Wendell Corey	...	Det. Lt. Thomas J. Doyle
Thelma Ritter	...	Stella
Raymond Burr	...	Lars Thorwald
Judith Evelyn	...	Miss Lonelyhearts
Ross Bagdasarian	...	Songwriter
Georgine Darcy	...	Miss Torso
Sara Berner	...	Wife living above Thorwalds
Frank Cady	...	Husband living above Thorwalds
Jesslyn Fax	...	Sculpting neighbor with hearing aid
Rand Harper	...	Newlywed man
Irene Winston	...	Mrs. Anna Thorwald
Havis Davenport	...	Newlywed woman
Marla English	...	Girl at songwriter's party

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (negative) | Color (Technicolor) (prints)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:PG (re-rating) (1983) (cerfiticate no. 27069) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (1983) | Canada:G (Quebec) (1983) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | USA:Approved (PCA #16938) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Iceland:L | Germany:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | Brazil:12 | Sweden:11 (re-rating) (1984) | Sweden:15 (original rating) (1955) | New Zealand:PG | Italy:T | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-8 | France:U (2000 re-release) | Netherlands:AL | Norway:16 | South Korea:15 | UK:PG | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Alfred Hitchcock]about a half hour into the film, winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment. The songwriter is real-life songwriter Ross Bagdasarian.

Goofs:

Continuity: The amount of Brandy in the detective's glass increases between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Voice on radio: Men, are you over 40? When you wake up in the morning, do you feel tired and rundown? Do you have that listless feeling...
[the camera pans around the courtyard; cut to later in the day]
Jeff: [answering phone] Jefferies.
Gunnison: Congratulations, Jeff!
Jeff: For what?
Gunnison: For getting rid of that cast!
Jeff: Who said I was getting rid of it?
Gunnison: This is Wednesday; seven weeks from the day you broke your leg. Yes or no?
Jeff: Gunnison, how did you ever get to be such a big editor with such a small memory?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Knight Rider: Halloween Knight (#3.4)" (1984)

Soundtrack:

Many Dreams Ago

Reading from Top to Bottom...Hitchcock's Sophisticated Masterpiece

Not only does REAR WINDOW (RW) have Alfred Hitchcock's trademark wit, suspense, and romance (with a touch of friction) in spades, but it's one of his most well-crafted, cleverly-staged movies; in fact, even though RW is based on a Cornell Woolrich story, I can't imagine this story being told as effectively in any medium other than cinema. However, the technical accomplishments (explained most entertainingly in the DVD's documentaries) would be nothing without the engaging characters. James Stewart's neighbors are interesting enough to warrant their own movies, and in addition to providing a wry microcosm of New York City life (the only dated thing about it is the lack of air conditioning), they all reflect possible outcomes for the somewhat stormy romance between laid-up shutterbug Stewart and the luminous Grace Kelly as his upscale fashion maven inamorata. As Brent Spiner said while hosting a showing of RW on TNT, the real perversion of the film is Stewart's reluctance to commit to the irresistible Kelly! In fact, one of the things I like about the movie is the way it shows these two very different people gradually learning to compromise and work together. The piquant final shot shows that a woman can have a happy relationship with a man without submerging her own personality -- refreshing for the 1950s! Great supporting cast, too, including Wendell Corey, Raymond Burr in one of his last bad-guy roles before PERRY MASON, and the scene-stealing Thelma Ritter. Incidentally, the restored special edition RW DVD was put together just in time to include Georgine Darcy ("Miss Torso"), then one of the last surviving cast members. Darcy died earlier this year; she will be missed.