The Movie Guys: ‘Rear Window’ remains a Hitchcock masterpiece

Friday, March 24, 2000 | 10:21 a.m.

The Movie Guys, starring Jeff Howard and Dave Neil, appears Fridays in the Sun They can also be seen on the 11 a.m. Friday newscast on KVVU Channel 5. Plus, check them out online at themovieguys.com.

Synopsis: L.B. Jefferies is a world-renowned magazine photographer who is laid up in his tiny Greenwich Village apartment, wheelchair-bound with a broken leg. With temperatures soaring and boredom running rampant, he innocently resorts to spying on his neighbors across the courtyard outside his rear window.

Jeff: I first saw "Rear Window" during Universal Studios' re-release of a series of Alfred Hitchcock's films in the mid-1980s and this clearly became my favorite of his American films. "Rear Window" is Hitchcock at his cinematic best, offering an obsessive, sexually charged piece of cinematic voyeurism.

Based on the Cornell Woolrich story, "It Had to Be A Murder," this is the quintessential personification of his masterful use of suspense, even though he was faced with severe technical limitations. "Rear Window" is the ultimate invasion of privacy. Jimmy Stewart is ideally cast as Jefferies, whose wandering eyes gaze upon newlyweds, a composer in a swanky apartment, a housewife, a ballerina. But the one tenant who catches his attention is Lars Thorwald (played by Raymond Burr). After days of spying, Jefferies is convinced that one rainy night, Thorwald murdered his wife, chopped her up, stuck her in a trunk and shipped her off somewhere upstate New York. With the aid of his girlfriend, Lisa (the stunningly beautiful Grace Kelly), and house nurse (Thelma Ritter), he tries to piece together all the evidence they need to capture Thorwald.

Dave: If it wasn't enough to see a Hitchcock film on the silver screen, there's the opportunity to view the movie in glorious restoration. The background colors are radiant as they change from day to night, courtesy of veteran cinematographer Robert Burks. The luminous costumes worn by Kelly that were provided by the legendary Edith Head, and various elements that differentiate the film's quality from the time of its original release in 1954 all benefit from the advancement in the new technicolor dye transfer process. The ability to restore and preserve such cinematic art as Hitchcock's classic is a blessing for generations to come.

Jeff: "Rear Window" is the ultimate voyeuristic journey. Hitchcock brilliantly forces our perspective throughout the film into one direction. We only see what Jefferies sees, from his point of view, and the audience has no other choice than to become Peeping Toms along with him. At times I felt like I was trapped in the wheelchair along with Jefferies.

There is a lot to be said for viewing "Rear Window" on the big screen. I've seen the film a hundred times on home video, but I caught things I had never noticed before in the theater, when viewed larger than life. Musical cues and songs that fit the characters, items in Jeffries' apartment, all become overshadowed within the small confines of the television screen. Detail was Hitchcock's middle name and only with repeated viewings can you find all of the film's hidden meanings.

Dave: During the screening I actually got to experience exactly what sort of aesthetic control Hitchcock has always had on his audience. Very few suspense thrillers can make an audience gasp for air while the action builds, or let out a terrifying scream when the action breaks. When Lisa is caught in Thorwald's apartment and Jefferies is helplessly watching her struggle, you could literally hear the theater house holding its breath.

And when Jefferies is hanging on for dear life outside his window, fighting off his attacker, I heard several people belt out a scream when ... well, I'll let you learn for yourself. So, I implore you folks, take advantage of this opportunity and treat yourself to a work of enduring excellence from a filmmaker whose name is synonymous with cinematic craft.

Jeff: Nominated for Oscars for best direction, screenplay and cinematography, "Rear Window" is 114 minutes of claustrophobic terror and as an early ad campaign slogan for the film read, "If you do not experience delicious terror when you see 'Rear Window,' then pinch yourself -- you are most probably dead."

Be sure to see it on the big screen as it was intended, in its fully restored glory. It will be an experience you're not likely to forget.

Good evening.