Rear Window (1954)

Academy Awards, USA 1955

Nominated Oscar	Best Director Alfred Hitchcock
	Best Writing, Screenplay John Michael Hayes
	Best Cinematography, Color Robert Burks
	Best Sound, Recording Loren L. Ryder (Paramount)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Photographer Jimmy Stewart, recovering from a broken leg, spends his time looking out his back window into the courtyard of his expansive New York City apartment complex. It is a sweltering summer, and his neighbors leave their windows open, some sleeping on the fire escape, letting him take in their private lives. One night during a thunderstorm he thinks he hears one of them commit murder. He drifts off to sleep, only to awaken the next morning with the neighbor acting suspiciously. He sends his girlfriend Grace Kelly and his nurse out to dig up the flower garden where he thinks the body is buried. They find nothing, but Grace climbs into the apartment, only to be cornered by the alleged murderer. The last second arrival of the police saves her, but his identity is tipped off. In an unbelievably tense scene that follows, the wheelchair bound Stewart is confronted in the dark by the murderer. A rather poor special effect occurs at the worst possible time, almost spoiling the whole thing. One of Hitchcock's most celebrated films occurs on a giant indoor set built on a Paramount sound stage. It's a warning about the dangers of voyeurism, spiced up with Hitchcock's unique black humor.