Movie - Rear Window

Movie – Rear Window
Score : 10/10
Year : 1954
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country : USA
Language : English
Duration:1h52
Writers : Cornell Woolrich (shortstory) ; John Michael Hayes (screenplay) 

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(if you want my review of my movie itself, scroll after those lines)

Last year, a movie club organized an exceptional showing of this movie at ciné Capitole, a unique evening to watch amongst fellow Hitchcock fans - my wife and I had invited a couple friends to come see it as the occasion can be quite rare.

The older-than-durt club president presented Hitchcock and the movie - not realizing people DO know Alfred, his work, some or all of his life, and have access to wikipedia, imdb, and other tools..
After much ado and disorganised venue, as over 60 people came to watch and most seemed to belong to said club and would laugh to anything the old man would say, the movie finally started almost half an hour late, but, in spite of all these hurdles, it was great watching it on big screen, for the only time of my life thus far.

Oh, how cute it was when the old man asked us if we'd seen the movie before... kinda sad we couldn't say ''no'', to make his day and his presentation be worthwhile, because, really, 100% of the crowed have seen it, and we could've done without the shananigans and gone straight to the movie...

Whilst waiting, a few women chatted, and we feared they'd continue their chatter boxes during the movie, but luckily they didn't. However, they did giggle and laugh to many, many scenes... ok, there's comic relief, but, really ? d'ya HAVE to laugh to every single new shot you see ? oh god, I hope they won't be there when the club will organise Shadow of a doubt, or any other Hitchcock movie... some of which are longer than Rear Window...

It wasn't the best cinema experience, but it was ok, in spite of the commotion, and a bit of anxiety I felt after over 30 people had been there... which at that point was the maximum crowd I was in, in a theatre that is...
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Movie – Rear Window
Score : 10/10
Year : 1954
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country : USA
Language : English
Duration:1h52
Writers : Cornell Woolrich (shortstory) ; John Michael Hayes (screenplay) 


Rear Window is one of those Hitchcock movies I never get tired of ; it's very well directed by the master of suspense, and brilliantly acted by the cast :

James Stewart is L.B. ''Jeff'' Jefferies, a professional photographer who broke his leg during one of his missions, is confined to a wheel chair and passes his hot summer days and nights watching his neighbours through his rear window. He follows the tenants individual routines, romantic lives and so on.
When he starts suspecting one of them of foul play, he slowly drags his girlfriend Lisa Carole Fremont (Grave Kelly) and his physical therapist, Stella (Thelma Ritter) into his personal investigation.

James Stewart is definitely one of my favourite actors (I think I've seen a couple dozen movies with him and thus far disliked only one!), aptly portraying just about any kind of character. Here, he plays wonderfully this quirky, independent photographer, who lets his curiosity get the best of him ; yet, bedridden, he has no other choice than to drag his entourage (girlfriend and therapist) with him. 
One of Jimmy's strenghts, is his capacity to convey emotions with his facial expressions, his eyes, and the intonation of his voice : curiosity, astonishment, light hearted, heavy or fear, to name but a few, very present in Rear Window. 
I just learned that he co-produced the movie with Alfred Hitchcock, which I guess means that he really liked this project... and rightly so, it's a great one. 

I loved Stella (Thelma Ritter)'s spunky personality and her approach to L.B.'s relationship with Lisa was quite funny. 

Lastly, Kelley's grace and her evolution as a character were quite interesting to follow, almost like her elegant and ever changing wardrobe.  

The dialogues were funny, sharp, and full of innuendos.

The cinematography was quite interesting as the characters spy on the neighbours in a mostly closed courtyard seen from L.B's apartment rear window. The deco in L.B's apartment was quite appropriate to a bachelor photographer, always travelling and as one would imagine, come back with knickknacks. 

In the cinema, I couldn't stand Franz Waxman's music, as it was very loud ; but at home, with a controlled volume, it didn't offend me anymore, especially with the remastered sound on the bluray edition I  bought recently. 

The only thing I didn't like is a quick meal with lobster and I don't recall any fur in the entire movie or anything else to truly offend me.

Rear Window is thoroughly enjoyable and even though I know what happens, I never get tired of watching it over and over again. Thus far, I have seen it a good dozen (or double dozen) times, on tv, dvd and finally bluray.

Rest of the cast :

Frank Cady, Georgine Darcy , Gig Young, Harry Landers, Havis Davenport, Irene Winston,  Jesslyn Fax, Judith Evelyn, Ralph Smile ,Rand Harper, Raymond Burr , Ross Bagdasarian, Sara Berne, Wendell Corey