Rear Window

So, my friends and I are going to a Rear Window screening this coming weekend. Rear Window is one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest films, and, subsequently, one of his "vault" movies. (The vault movies are the five movies Hitchcock held the rights to and kept from the public for a serious of decades for his daughter.) If you have seen the Shia LeBouf movie Suburbia, then you should be familiar with Rear Window's plot, because it is essentially the same, just modernized. Rear Window is about a photographer, played by Jimmy Stewart, who is stuck in his apartment thanks to a broken leg. To pass the time, he watches his neighbors through his window overlooking the courtyard. As he is snooping, he notices the sudden disappearance of a woman across the way. Her husband claims she went on a trip, but Jimmy Stewart suspects murder.

The brilliance of this movie come with the doubt of whether or not there actually was a murder. The viewer really has no clue when watching this. The first time I saw the movie, I watched it just to find out if there was a murder. I'm not going to spoil the movie with too many details, but if you have not seen the movies yet, you may want to go ahead and skip to the next paragraph now. I would just like to address the fact that this movie has what I think is the most chilling scene I have ever seen in a movie. Jimmy Stewart's girlfriend, played by Grace Kelly, goes to the apartment of the supposed murder to investigate, while Stewart watches from across the courtyard in his own apartment. The husband catches her and while she is talking to the police, she stands by the window to signal something to Jimmy Stewart (I am trying to be as vague as possible so I do not ruin the movie). The part that freezes me up every single time I watch this movie (not to mention I may have shrieked the first time I ever saw it) is when the husband sees Grace Kelly's signal and follows her line of sight across the courtyard and glares-- and I mean glares-- at Jimmy Stewart. It is a very chilling glare, and one that Raymond Burr excelled in executing. And if you see this movie and get to this scene, there is no way you could deny the greatness of this film.

Rear Window has several elements to it that I think make it one of my favorite movies. The director is Alfred Hitchcock, one of my favorites. The lead actor is Jimmy Stewart, my favorite actor. And the lead actress is Grace Kelly, elegant, graceful, and very dramatic. Since this is still a relatively new blog, I shall now rank my favorite directors, actors, and actresses, so that my readers may get a glimpse, not only of what I like, but of how movies that combine these, like Rear Window, are destined to be great.

Mallory's Top 5 Directors:
1. Billy Wilder
2. Vincente Minelli
3. Alfred Hitchcock
4. Steven Spielberg
5. Rob Reiner

Mallory's Top 5 Actors:
1. Jimmy Stewart
2. Jimmy Cagney
3. Michael Caine
4. Cary Grant
5. Leonardo DiCaprio

Mallory's Top 5 Actresses:
1. Joan Fontaine
2. Judy Garland
3. Audrey Hepburn
4. Katharine Hepburn
5. Reese Witherspoon

If a movie has any of these elements, then it will most likely (and hopefully) be great. I did have to leave out some good people, but some of these just have a certain charismatic ability to make any of their roles great. Rear Window features Alfred Hitchcock's direction alongside Jimmy Stewart's acting, paired with a great screenplay and a fabulous invitation to the audience to immediately begin forming opinions as to what happened to this woman who suddenly disappeared. I highly recommend this movie, as it is one of my favorites.