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Rear Window Overview:

Rear Window (1954) was a Mystery - Romance Film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Alfred Hitchcock.

The film was based on the short story It Had to Be Murder written by Cornell Woolrich published in Dime Detective Magazine in Feb 1942.

SYNOPSIS

This thoroughly enjoyable mystery classic from Hitchcock pokes amiably at the inherent voyeurism of the movie audience. Restless magazine photographer Stewart bides his time while confined to a wheelchair with observing the behavior of his neighbors from the vantage point of his rear window. His only other distractions during the day our visits from his model girlfriend Kelly and nurse Ritter. After waking in the night, Stewart is convinced he sees salesman Burr disposing of evidence that would indicate a hideous murder, with his nagging wife the obvious victim. But when Stewart's story doesn't wash with a policeman pal, he sends Kelly into the apartment to search for more clues. As Stewart watches helplessly, Burr returns to his apartment. Now aware of Stewart's snooping, Burr attacks the wheelchair-bound voyeur. Witty and beautifully produced (Hitchcock constructed the largest set of its time at Paramount–31 full-scale apartments), this is an enduring popular and critical favorite.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Rear Window was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1997.

Academy Awards 1954 --- Ceremony Number 27 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best CinematographyRobert BurksNominated
Best DirectorAlfred HitchcockNominated
Best WritingJohn Michael HayesNominated
See More Oscar Winners

Rear Window BlogHub Articles:

Roadgames: A Little Bit of Rear Window, a Dash of Duel

By Rick29 on Oct 7, 2024 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

Quid (Stacy Keach) with his harmonica.Directed by Hitchcock admirer Richard Franklin, Roadgames (1981) follows truck driver Patrick Quid (Stacy Keach) as he traverses the desolate highways of rural Australia after witnessing what may have been the aftermath of a murder. You see, there's a serial kil... Read full article

James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Thelma Ritter debate “Rear Window” ethics

By Stephen Reginald on Dec 5, 2023 From Classic Movie Man

James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Thelma Ritter debate “Rear Window” ethics Rear Window (1954) is an American mystery thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, and Thelma Ritter. The script was by John Michael Hayes, the cinematograp... Read full article

4K UHD Blu-ray Review: Rear Window

By Devon Powell on Sep 2, 2021 From Hitchcock Master

Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date: September 07, 2021 Region — 4K UHD: Region Free BLU-RAY: Region A Length: 01:52:27 Video — 4K UHD: 2160P (HEVC, H.265) BLU-RAY: 1080P (MPEG-4, AVC) Audio (4K UHD & Blu-ray): 2.0 Mono English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Spanish (Latin American) ... Read full article

Rear Window: In the Heat of the Night

By Devon Powell on Sep 13, 2020 From Hitchcock Master

Exclusive Guest Article By: Robert Jones This article is the first in a series of four guest articles to appear on this page in celebration of Universal’s release of ‘The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection.’  “How do you know what the world is like? Do you know the world is ... Read full article

The Directors’ Chair: Rear Window

By Theresa Brown on Aug 25, 2020 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

The Directors’ Chair: Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954) “REAR WINDOW” (1954) – CURIOSITY KILLED THE… James Stewart, Rear Window Holed up in his apartment with a broken leg, a photo journalist played by James Stewart, whiles away his recuperative time watching his neig... Read full article

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Rear Window Quotes:

Jeff: When am I going to see you again?
Lisa: [angry] Not for a long time...
[softening]
Lisa: at least not until tomorrow night.
Jeff: Those two yellow zinnias at the end, they're shorter now. Now since when do flowers grow shorter over the course of two weeks? Something's buried there.
Lisa: Mrs. Thorwald!
Stella: You haven't spent much time around cemeteries, have you? It's impossible that Mr. Thorwald could bury his wife in a hole the size of one square foot. Unless he put her in standing on end, in which case he wouldn't need the knives and saw.
Lisa: Jeff, you know if someone came in here, they wouldn't believe what they'd see? You and me with long faces plunged into despair because we find out a man didn't kill his wife. We're two of the most frightening ghouls I've ever known.
Stella: You heard of that market crash in '29? I predicted that.
Jeff: Oh, just how did you do that, Stella?
Stella: Oh, simple. I was nursing a director of General Motors. Kidney ailment, they said. Nerves, I said. And I asked myself, "What's General Motors got to be nervous about?" Overproduction, I says; collapse. When General Motors has to go to the bathroom ten times a day, the whole country's ready to let go.
Stella: Intelligence. Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence.
See More Quotes from Rear Window
Rear Window Facts
The size of the set necessitated excavation of the soundstage floor. Thus Jeff's apartment was actually at street level.
At the time the set was the largest indoor set built at Paramount Studios.
During the month-long shoot Georgine Darcy, who played "Miss Torso", "lived" in her apartment all day, relaxing between takes as if really at home.
Screenwriter John Michael Hayes based Lisa on his own wife, who'd been a professional fashion model when they married.
Joe Flynn was cast in the movie, but his scene was cut.
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