Rear Window

Rear Window, a 1954 mystery/thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. My impression of the movie, I thought it was a delight. The film built up the mystery, the suspense, about the neighbor that Jefferies (James Stewart) is "spying" on. It Made me think "did this neighbor murder his wife" or "Is Jefferies really losing it". Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) showed the side of her that isnt afraid of a little adventure and mystery. At first she seemed like the classic-drop-dead-goregous-rich girl who wouldnt get her finger nails dirty for no body but she shows this passionate love to Jeff and, to me, it seemed that she showed her more adventurous side to prove her love for him or to save their relationship. Stella (Thelma Ritter) is the nurse that cares for Jeff and she, too, gets involved with the sneaky mystery business that is going on across the windows view. These three working together to figure out a mystery puts me on the edge of my seat.

The main plot of thie film is that Jeff, who has a broken leg is at home all day and night with nothing to do, starts to watch his neighbors and witnesses some things he probably shouldnt have. With the help of Stella and Lisa, they dig deeper and go against detective Dolye (Wendell Corey), who doesnt believe Jeff, to uncover the mystery that unfolds before their eyes. They will do what ever it takes to solve this mystery.

The acting, at first, was hard to get use to because the acting was different in the 50's compared to acting in the 21st century.  Stella's character was the most believable, right off the bat, just on how she portrayed the character of the nurse on helping Jefferies who was in need of assistance. Jefferies and Lisa's charcter took some time to get used to because I wasn't impressed with their acting at first. They didn't portray their roles straight away, they took their time and built up to their role unlike Stella who gave it her all in her first few lines. As the movie picked up their characters became much more believable. I found this to be when I was drawn into the action and became curious on what was going to happen next. That's how I know when an actor does their job.

The one camera shot that really caught my attention was the view from Jefferies when he used binoculars vs. when he didn't use the binoculars. When he used binoculars, the view was much closer and the light focused on the center of the circle and the outer circle was blacked out. When he removed the binoculars, the view was much further away and a wide shot was visible. It made it harder to see what was going on, just like if you were to use binoculars. Through out this film, there was a lot of shadowed lighting to create that mysterious/thriller look. It becomes a struggle to see which gets your curiousity going and you definitely want that in a mystery movie.

I think the message of this film is to follow your gut, your instinct. The detective didn't really believe Jeff, at first, when he said there was something fishy going on. When Dolye did investigate he didn't find any evidence that Jeff was talking about.  Jeff had this feeling that there was more to the strory and continued to follow his gut to "solve" the case with the help of Lisa and Stella. The problem that occurs is that this wouldnt happen in real life because how can Jeff get away with looking through that window for so long? How can Lisa just break into the apartment and not get in any kind of trouble? Those questions puzzle me because nowadays, if someone was in that situation they would get in massive trouble, sued, or get a restraining order...Something.

I highly recommend seeing this film. It does leave you on the edge of your seat begging to know whats gonna happen next. It's fun picturing yourself in these situations that these characters get themselves into thinking to yourself, would I do that? Could I do that? What is he/she going to decide next? Are they staying together or breaking up? Will Jeff survive this mystery or will he get hurt? All these questions are racing through your head. You will not be dissapointed.