Available on "Classic Collectables" Region 4 DVD for 'Rear Window,' the exhaustively-titled '"Rear Window Ethics': Remembering and Restoring a Hitchcock Classic" is an excellent retrospective documentary detailing the making-of one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest masterpieces. In order to compile a thorough and accurate documentary of the film, director Laurent Bouzereau (who has over 200 such works to his credit) approached those who were most knowledgeable about the production of 'Rear Window,' including Hitchcock's daughter Patricia, MCA/Universal publicist Herb Steinberg and respected film director Peter Bogdanovich. These present-day interviews are combined expertly with a great abundance of archival footage, including a fantastic radio interview been Bogdanovich and the Master of Suspense himself, in which the pair discuss many of the themes and scenes of the film.
Running for just less than an hour, the documentary is an excellent, comprehensive chronicle of 'Rear Window,' brimming with entertaining and colourful anecdotes of the film's production. Bogdanovich's closing account, of Hitchcock's baffling "elevator story," perfectly sums up the mind and talents of the great director, and the documentary is worth viewing for this anecdote alone. Also in abundance is a multitude of the film's posters, publicity stills, snippets from the theatrical trailer (featuring James Stewart's excellent narration) and interviews with notable film critics and restorers.
One of the most fascinating components of the documentary is the section detailing the exhaustive restoration of the film, which, in some cases, required the replacement of entire yellow layers of the negative. Because existing restoration techniques were insufficient to bring 'Rear Window' back to all its former glory, new practices were required to be invented, and the result is a print that is even more beautiful, colourful and contrasted than it must have been back in 1954. The vast amounts of work that these men and women invested in the restoration really makes you appreciated how valuable their efforts are; without them, we could quite possibly very soon lose such classic films as 'Rear Window.' As an informative companion to such a remarkable film, this is an excellent documentary.
