The unspoken joke is that only in the movies could a stunning beauty like Lisa Carol Fremont (played by Grace Kelley) throw themselves at a stiff like L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) and he ‘can’t make up his mind whether he’s interested in her or not.” I’ve always found this amusing. Another way, perhaps, that Alfred Hitchcock, toys with us.
There isn’t much humor in “Rear Window.” It’s dark and filled with anguish. It is about the loneliness and alienation that stalks all of us. It about how we crave acceptance and companionship, yet see it elusively slip just beyond our grasp.
Yes, there is a murder in “Rear Window”--but the murder is of less importance ( as in all of Hitch's work) than what we learn about the characters—and, ourselves. “Rear Window” demands multiple viewings because of the intricate nuances that permeate his work. It stands above “Vertigo” and “North by Northwest” because it unravels the voyeuristic tendencies that lives inside each of us…and, how those tendencies turn us inward, drawing us more into ourselves making us more vulnerable to the effects of alienation. “Rear Window” is not a cautionary tale—unless, of course, you live in an apartment complex with nosy neighbors and have a penchant for murder.
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