"Rear Window" is not as complex as Vertigo, but it's a whole lot more fun, with sparkling cynical dialogue, an ingenious set-up and the lovely Grace Kelly. It also has Thelma Ritter who, while not "lovely" nearly always steals the scene from any star she's positioned alongside. In Rear Window, Thelma is nurse to LB Jeffries (Jimmy Stewart) who is just a terrible patient. He is a freelance photographer with his leg up in plaster due to an accident at a car race, leaving him feeling a bit of a grand prix. Ha ha ha!! Geddit??? Oh please yourselves.
During the course of his convalescence, he keeps a close eye on neighbours. They become his entertainment as he sits there over the hot summer, fiddling with his tripod. Gradually he becomes aware that there's something not quite right in the apartment of Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr). Where's his argumentative wife? She was there one day, gone the next. She appears to have been replaced by a very large trunk.
Uh-oh.
Gradually Jimmy wears down both Grace and Thelma, convincing them that nefarious doings are afoot. But how will they prove that Mrs. Thorwald has been murdered (and packed)?
That's it for the plot. What's great fun is the glee with which the three amateur sleuths analyse every move of the unsuspecting Thorwald. Unsuspecting, that is, until Grace gets too close for comfort...
Rear Window is a terrific film with all concerned doing a great job. If you can be bothered, you can find a more serious message about voyeurism, and some sly digs at the audiences for films like this ("Aren't we ghouls? We're disappointed that he didn't murder his wife!") But quite honestly the real reason for watching this film is for its inventive scenario, witty script and Grace Kelly in her nightie.
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