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8.8/10
FilmFascination Rating
When I decided to watch a Hitchcock movie, I knew it was going to be thrilling but in this one let’s not forget the romantic part of it. Now don’t get me wrong. Is it a thriller? Yes. But the characters have managed to give you the thrills but at the same time managed to keep the romantic side going on. The film is based on Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story “It Had to Be Murder”.
L.B. ‘Jeff’ Jeffries (James Stewart) is a photojournalist stuck in his apartment with a broken leg. He is extremely bored sitting in his apartment which is also the only place where the viewer is the entire film. Jeff kills his time by watching out the window of his Greenwich Village apartment at his neighbours’ houses. Each neighbour has his own little life but is still intricately connected to each other. Every waking hour Jeff is just peeping at his neighbours, trying to decipher what exactly is going on in each one’s life- a frustrated composer who can’t find that new tune, a beautiful ballet dancer affectionately nicknamed ‘Miss Torso’, an incredibly lonely woman ‘Miss Lonelyhearts’ who acts as if she is with someone (having an imaginary date) just to forget about her loneliness.
But amongst all of them, it is the costume-jewellery salesman directly across Jeff’s window- Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) that catches his attention the most. Lars Thorwald has a kind of ugly relationship with his bedridden wife. One night when Jeff is alone in his apartment after an argument with his girlfriend he hears a woman scream- “Don’t” which is followed by Mr. Thorwald making repeated late-night trips carrying a suitcase. The next morning Mrs. Thorwald is missing and Jeff notices Lars cleaning a knife and a handsaw. Thorwald also gets men to move away a large trunk wrapped with a thick rope. Was it the wife’s body? Jeff instantly suspects murder and each piece of evidence he sees just convinces him more towards that direction.
Every window of the neighbour has its own story. We are taken on this beautiful journey of exploring these neighbours of Jeff. The intelligent frames of the movie make the audience a part of the neighbourhood. So much so that it makes me wonder who is watching through my window and keeping an eye on everything I do. The film was shot entirely at Paramount Studios, which included an enormous indoor Greenwich Village courtyard set. It ended up being the largest of its kind at Paramount with a massive drainage system constructed for the rain sequence in the film.
Jeff is immobile in his apartment and has only two regular visitors. One is his visiting insurance nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) and the other is his girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly), an elegant model and dress designer, who tries her best to get her boyfriend to commit himself. The only other visitor is his friend Tom Doyle, a New York City Police detective who helps him solve this inquisitiveness of his about Mr. Thorwald.
Stewart and Grace Kelley have a natural spark between them in the movie. They are so in love with each other despite their contrasting characters. Jeff believes that his dangerous photo work will never match perfectly with Lisa’s fashion model lifestyle. She on the other hand doesn’t think that it would make any difference. On Lisa’s side is nurse, Stella. In response to Jeff demanding a sandwich whilst talking about not marrying his beautiful girlfriend Lisa, Stella says-‘Yes, I will. And I’ll spread a little common sense on the bread.’
Jefferies is pushing back against any serious romance with Lisa because in his view she is just too perfect in every sense for him. Meanwhile, Lisa is in the notion that she can live in any world that Jeff is in. In the end, when Jeff sees how much Lisa puts on the line for their love, he realizes that he had misjudged her character. And more importantly how dearly he loves her.
Although you are in a single room for the entire film, it still entertains you. In fact, it gives us an idea of how the hero must have felt all those long days that it would be but natural for a person to take a look at what’s going on with their neighbours. James Stewart is insanely talented. His expression to each and everything going on at his neighbours are indeed also the audience’s expression. His acting keeps us hooked on the plot because the movie does not show much of what’s going on in the world outside the room. Due to this just like how he is trapped in his apartment we are constrained to Jeff’s point of view. Being able to watch only as much as he can. This is why we are like Jeff’s apprentices trying to solve the case alongside him. Stella though just keeping her character constrained to her work of massaging and taking care of Jeff couldn’t help herself from getting dragged into all the drama Jeff creates with the story he makes about his neighbours.
Jeff gets so much involved in this habit of peeking at his neighbours that he even ignores his incredibly gorgeous and caring girlfriend Lisa. Whatever she says, Jeff is still into his own little world of ‘Miss Lonelyhearts’, ‘Miss Torso’, the struggling composer, and let’s not forget Mr. Thorwald. This is until Lisa herself gets into this mission of cracking this case about Thorwald that Jeff creates.
Interesting thought about Stewart spying on his neighbours is that what he really is observing in the different frames of neighbourhood life, is marriage in its various stages and possibilities: the excited newlyweds pulling down the blinds in their new apartment; the bickering older couple and a troubled relationship of the Thorwald’s.
The movie along with thrilling and exhilarating is incredibly funny due to James Stewart’s perfect comic timing. The characters are memorable because of their excellent acting and intelligent dialogues. From Stella and Mr.Thorwald to even the composer guy who plays the piano and doesn’t speak anything in the movie are noteworthy.
Alfred Hitchcock has mastered the art of creating this immersive world for the audience. The movie is perfect. A masterpiece of cinematography, colours, costumes, and sound. This is the reason why I have always had a soft spot for the classics. Prominent among the songs in the movie were Bing Crosby’s ‘To See You is to Love You’ and Dean Martin’s ‘That’s Amore’.
Everything shown to us has a purpose so much so that we don’t get the illusion of being in the cinema but are actually present in the room with Stewart himself, trying to crack this case of his. We get to be a part of it all. He excites us at times and makes us jump out of our seats, especially at the end. The climax makes you feel the chaos and the tension of the situation.
Favourite Quotes
Lisa Fremont: I wish I could be creative.
L.B. Jefferies: Oh sweetie, you are. You have a great talent for creating difficult situations.
L.B. Jefferies: Why would a man leave his apartment three times on a rainy night with a suitcase and come back three times?
Lisa Fremont: He likes the way his wife welcomes him home.
Lisa Fremont: What’s he doing? Cleaning house?
L.B. Jefferies: He’s washing and scrubbing down the bathroom walls.
Stella: Must’ve splattered a lot. [both Jeff and Lisa look at Stella with disgust]
Stella: Come on, that’s what were all thinkin’. He killed her in there, now he has to clean up those stains before he leaves.
Lisa Fremont: Stella… your choice of words!
Stella: Nobody ever invented a polite word for a killin’ yet.
L.B. Jefferies: She wants me to marry her.
Stella: That’s normal.
L.B. Jefferies: I don’t want to.
Stella: That’s abnormal.
Stella: Maybe one day she’ll find her happiness.
L.B. Jefferies: Yeah, some man’ll lose his.
L.B. Jefferies: Would you fix me a sandwich, please?
Stella: Yes, I will. And I’ll spread a little common sense on the bread.
Lisa Fremont: [describing a dress] A steal at $1,100.
L.B. Jefferies: Eleven hundred? They ought to list that dress on the stock exchange.
Stella: When I married Miles, we were both a couple of maladjusted misfits. We are still maladjusted misfits, and we have loved every minute of it.
L.B. Jefferies: Are you interested in solving this case or in making me look foolish?
Tom Doyle: Well, if possible, both.
Tom Doyle: Oh, so anything you need, Jeff?
L.B. Jefferies: You might send me a good detective.
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