Rear Window (Hitchock, 1954)

I first saw this film in the 1980s when it was restored and re-released in cinemas. You cannot imagine the difference seeing the movies of the Golden Age of Hollywood on the big screen. Grace Kelly was absolutely luminescent, and the concepts of claustrophobia and disability were over-powering - something that does not come across quite so well on TV. Every shot was teeming with detail, beautifully constructed.

I also saw in the USA the full version of the Christopher Reeve version, which was not shown in full in the UK. It started out brilliantly - knowing the actor was in real life so incapacitated helped to set up a huge amount of tension plus there were poignant scenes of wardrobes filled with shoes and sports equipment, things he could never use again. However, this was not a Hitchcock movie and it just lacked suspense as it 'developed'. When the girlfriend went into the flat over the way she took a mobile phone - hardly the tension of the scene where Kelly cannot see Burr coming back!
 
just updating a film with special affects doesn't mean it will be any better.

I love alot of classic crime stories and even Casablanca where people get shot there is just a puff of smoke and they hold their stomach and they are dead.

It's about believing in the whole cinema experience and the magic of cinema, it's a shame so much of today's generation can't do that any more
 
Classic film - and one that does reward upon repeated viewing. Maybe it does lack the pace and effects of a modern film but you really shouldn't let that put you off. As a relative newcommer to Hitchcock myself I was blown away by the brilliance of some of his films.

For those wanting to explore further I'd recommend the following:

Vertigo (my favourite - beautifully filmed)
North by Northwest (another classic)
Lifeboat (very underrated, set in WWII in a lifeboat!)
Rope (again underrated - very much like watching a play)

All of his most well known films are available very easily. I recently saw a large boxset of Hitch films in HMV reduced in price quite considerably. There are also plenty of books out there if you want to explore Hitchcock's film making in more detail.
 
I got a boxset for Christimas- possibly one of the best presents I've ever had! Rear Window is my favourite, but North by Northwest is brilliant as well. I also love Dial M for Murder.
 
Back
Top