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VHS : Rear Window
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Rating: 
- Modern audiences versus 1950s audiences
Sometimes I'll see a review on here about a movie made in the nineteen fifties or earlier and the reviewer complains about the movie being boring. I think what happened is that television started being in every home in the 1950s and since that time, the audience's attention span has been dramatically shortened. I don't mean it sarcastically either. Television presents itself in choppy sequences edited by commercials (on network and independent UHF channels) and it has had a smaller screen (until recently)to view the picture on. Also, with the advent of dvds, vhs tapes, laserdiscs, etc., what was once a communal experience of strangers became a private experience in the home. I think it's too bad and we miss a lot of detail and feeling in our lives because we can't focus our attention on movies or works of art the way we used to. Also there's the annoying habit of taking something that is a common attitude of 2008 and using it to judge a movie made in 1954. (It's like acting like Paris Hilton's sex video could have happened in the middle of "Rear Window". Which reminds me, if you really want that, I guess you could buy "Body Double" by Brian DePalma.) I really like "Rear Window" and it bears watching.
Rating: - a completely original suspense masterpiece!
One of the most original films ever made! A man in a wheelchair, with a leg in a cast is trapped in his Greenwich Village one room apartment, watching his neighbours through the window onto a courtyard, during a heat wave in the summer. Sometimes what you see, you don't believe and what you believe you don't see and that can be murder. The set-up and premise of the film is outstanding and completely original. With excellent dialogue and excellently mounted scenes without dialogue, Hitchcock enters the dangerous world of the peeping tom and gives it his masterful twist.
Rating: - No Dream Sequence PLEASE
The Dream Sequence referred to in the last review was never part of the original film. It was inserted by local television stations in a lame attempt to recapitulate the plot for those who had tuned in late. Exactly the kind of butchering that should be prevented by copywright laws. The current restoration is completely faithful to the original film.
Rating: - Restorers' Error
Restorers' Error
What the restorers of Rear Window don't know is that there exist two dream sequences in the first part of the movie.
The first takes place after Grace Kelly leaves, and James Stewart has heard the scream from across the courtyard. Thelma Ritter, Grace Kelly, and the courtyard are shown while dialogue from Thelma Ritter's argument with Stewart about Lisa, and Lisa's argument with Stewart, are heard with an echo. The composer's new song is heard.
The second takes place after Stewart has waked up and noticed the salesman taking a suitcase out during the rain, coming back, and taking the suitcase out again. The composer's song is heard over the image which shows the salesman arguing with his wife, the artist neighbor telling the salesman he is giving the plants too much water, Thelma Ritter saying "I've got a nose for trouble, I can smell it ten miles away." Then Ritter says, "I can smell trouble right in this apartment. First you break your leg, then you start looking out the window, seeing things you shouldn't see," while we see the wife catching the salesman in the other room talking to his girlfriend on the phone, then Ritter saying "We've become a race of Peeping Toms, what we ought to do is get outside ourselves and look in once in a while. The New York sentence for a Peeping Tom is six months in the workhouse. There are no windows in the workhouse. You know, in the old days they used to put people's eyes out with a red-hot poker. Any of those worth a red-hot poker?" as we see the salesman carrying the suitcase out into the rain.
When Stewart wakes up the apartment complex is dark, the shades are drawn. He sees Miss Torso come home from her evening out. Then he sits up as he sees the salesman coming back for a second time with the suitcase.
Each sequence is introduced by a rippling of the image of Stewart's sleeping face, and his face is superimposed over the dream images.
These dream sequences articulate the major themes of the movie: the dubious morality of voyeurism, Stewart's sexual ambivalence about Grace Kelly and his interest in other women, the salesman's conflict with his wife, Thelma Ritter's attempts to persuade Stewart to come back to a normal way of living. The salesman's problems with his wife are an analog to Stewart's problems with Grace Kelly. The core of voyeurism is sexuality, and this is shown over and over again in the movie. The motive for the salesman's murder of his wife is another woman. Miss Lonelyhearts' attempted suicide is because of her failed relationships with men. Miss Torso is fighting off suitors and trying to save herself for her husband, who, in a comic moment at the end of the movie, returns from military service more interested in food than in his sensual wife. The newlyweds keep their shades drawn because they are making love.
The restorers should have researched the film more carefully. Neither restored transfer includes these dream sequences as "deleted scenes."
Rating: - "We've become a race of Peeping Toms"
Every film is an artifact of its era and "Rear Window" is no different so those expecting slam bang action like they see in "The Matrix" should look elsewhere. All of that said, "Rear Window" still stands tall as a film classic because of the themes, artistry of Hitchcock, the performances and the witty dialogue that we hear in the film. Unseen except for rare TV performances in the early 60's and rare revival house showings, "Rear Window" looks extremely good in its DVD presentation although clearly no complete restoration was done here like was done for "Vertigo" (but "Rear Window" wasn't in as bad a shape as "Vertigo" either). This edition looks better than the previous DVD (although it should be noted it's the same transfer as what was in the Hitchcock boxed set release four years ago)with a nice anamorphic transfer. Some people seem to think that film grain is a bad thing--it's not it's just how the film looks and "Rear Window" is no exception. Expecting this to look like a film produced in 2008 isn't realistic and it won't--but it still looks darn good.
Extras are as follows: The extras that came with the boxed set as well as those from the previous single DVD release have been ported over to this release as well. We get two new delicious extras--a theme appropriate episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" with the Hitchcock directed episode ""Mr. Blanchard's Secret" and also excerpts from the interview Traffaut did with Hitchcock for his book in the early 60's.
Other extras: Audio commentary by author John Falwell, "Rear Window Ethics", Interview with Writer John Michael Hayes", "Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of the Master", "Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock", production notes, theatrical trailers, photo gallery, audio interview excerpts from Truffaut's interviews with Hitchcock,
A plot synopsis is below for those intereested:
Spying through a glass darkly (his camera lens), L.B. Jefferies (Jimmy Stewart) believes a neighbor (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. His evidence is circumstanial at best and the wheelchair bound photographer has to convince his girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly)of the crime. In the process he puts his friends in harm's way. Hitch laces his film with more than a touch of humor and irony pulling this thriller together as it's L.B.'s peeping that reveals the ugly underneath--revealing something unsavory about himself as well without him truly realizing it.
Hitchcock manages to do more with less than just about any director out there. Using a single soundstage, a small cast and the witty script by John Michael Hayes, Hitchcock crafts one of his classic films. "Rear Window" has aged yes but it looks, sounds and plays remarkably well fifty four years after it's original theatrical release. Highly recommended.
- Modern audiences versus 1950s audiencesSometimes I'll see a review on here about a movie made in the nineteen fifties or earlier and the reviewer complains about the movie being boring. I think what happened is that television started being in every home in the 1950s and since that time, the audience's attention span has been dramatically shortened. I don't mean it sarcastically either. Television presents itself in choppy sequences edited by commercials (on network and independent UHF channels) and it has had a smaller screen (until recently)to view the picture on. Also, with the advent of dvds, vhs tapes, laserdiscs, etc., what was once a communal experience of strangers became a private experience in the home. I think it's too bad and we miss a lot of detail and feeling in our lives because we can't focus our attention on movies or works of art the way we used to. Also there's the annoying habit of taking something that is a common attitude of 2008 and using it to judge a movie made in 1954. (It's like acting like Paris Hilton's sex video could have happened in the middle of "Rear Window". Which reminds me, if you really want that, I guess you could buy "Body Double" by Brian DePalma.) I really like "Rear Window" and it bears watching.
Rating:
- a completely original suspense masterpiece!One of the most original films ever made! A man in a wheelchair, with a leg in a cast is trapped in his Greenwich Village one room apartment, watching his neighbours through the window onto a courtyard, during a heat wave in the summer. Sometimes what you see, you don't believe and what you believe you don't see and that can be murder. The set-up and premise of the film is outstanding and completely original. With excellent dialogue and excellently mounted scenes without dialogue, Hitchcock enters the dangerous world of the peeping tom and gives it his masterful twist.
Rating:
- No Dream Sequence PLEASEThe Dream Sequence referred to in the last review was never part of the original film. It was inserted by local television stations in a lame attempt to recapitulate the plot for those who had tuned in late. Exactly the kind of butchering that should be prevented by copywright laws. The current restoration is completely faithful to the original film.
Rating:
- Restorers' ErrorRestorers' Error
What the restorers of Rear Window don't know is that there exist two dream sequences in the first part of the movie.
The first takes place after Grace Kelly leaves, and James Stewart has heard the scream from across the courtyard. Thelma Ritter, Grace Kelly, and the courtyard are shown while dialogue from Thelma Ritter's argument with Stewart about Lisa, and Lisa's argument with Stewart, are heard with an echo. The composer's new song is heard.
The second takes place after Stewart has waked up and noticed the salesman taking a suitcase out during the rain, coming back, and taking the suitcase out again. The composer's song is heard over the image which shows the salesman arguing with his wife, the artist neighbor telling the salesman he is giving the plants too much water, Thelma Ritter saying "I've got a nose for trouble, I can smell it ten miles away." Then Ritter says, "I can smell trouble right in this apartment. First you break your leg, then you start looking out the window, seeing things you shouldn't see," while we see the wife catching the salesman in the other room talking to his girlfriend on the phone, then Ritter saying "We've become a race of Peeping Toms, what we ought to do is get outside ourselves and look in once in a while. The New York sentence for a Peeping Tom is six months in the workhouse. There are no windows in the workhouse. You know, in the old days they used to put people's eyes out with a red-hot poker. Any of those worth a red-hot poker?" as we see the salesman carrying the suitcase out into the rain.
When Stewart wakes up the apartment complex is dark, the shades are drawn. He sees Miss Torso come home from her evening out. Then he sits up as he sees the salesman coming back for a second time with the suitcase.
Each sequence is introduced by a rippling of the image of Stewart's sleeping face, and his face is superimposed over the dream images.
These dream sequences articulate the major themes of the movie: the dubious morality of voyeurism, Stewart's sexual ambivalence about Grace Kelly and his interest in other women, the salesman's conflict with his wife, Thelma Ritter's attempts to persuade Stewart to come back to a normal way of living. The salesman's problems with his wife are an analog to Stewart's problems with Grace Kelly. The core of voyeurism is sexuality, and this is shown over and over again in the movie. The motive for the salesman's murder of his wife is another woman. Miss Lonelyhearts' attempted suicide is because of her failed relationships with men. Miss Torso is fighting off suitors and trying to save herself for her husband, who, in a comic moment at the end of the movie, returns from military service more interested in food than in his sensual wife. The newlyweds keep their shades drawn because they are making love.
The restorers should have researched the film more carefully. Neither restored transfer includes these dream sequences as "deleted scenes."
Rating:
- "We've become a race of Peeping Toms"Every film is an artifact of its era and "Rear Window" is no different so those expecting slam bang action like they see in "The Matrix" should look elsewhere. All of that said, "Rear Window" still stands tall as a film classic because of the themes, artistry of Hitchcock, the performances and the witty dialogue that we hear in the film. Unseen except for rare TV performances in the early 60's and rare revival house showings, "Rear Window" looks extremely good in its DVD presentation although clearly no complete restoration was done here like was done for "Vertigo" (but "Rear Window" wasn't in as bad a shape as "Vertigo" either). This edition looks better than the previous DVD (although it should be noted it's the same transfer as what was in the Hitchcock boxed set release four years ago)with a nice anamorphic transfer. Some people seem to think that film grain is a bad thing--it's not it's just how the film looks and "Rear Window" is no exception. Expecting this to look like a film produced in 2008 isn't realistic and it won't--but it still looks darn good.
Extras are as follows: The extras that came with the boxed set as well as those from the previous single DVD release have been ported over to this release as well. We get two new delicious extras--a theme appropriate episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" with the Hitchcock directed episode ""Mr. Blanchard's Secret" and also excerpts from the interview Traffaut did with Hitchcock for his book in the early 60's.
Other extras: Audio commentary by author John Falwell, "Rear Window Ethics", Interview with Writer John Michael Hayes", "Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of the Master", "Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock", production notes, theatrical trailers, photo gallery, audio interview excerpts from Truffaut's interviews with Hitchcock,
A plot synopsis is below for those intereested:
Spying through a glass darkly (his camera lens), L.B. Jefferies (Jimmy Stewart) believes a neighbor (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. His evidence is circumstanial at best and the wheelchair bound photographer has to convince his girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly)of the crime. In the process he puts his friends in harm's way. Hitch laces his film with more than a touch of humor and irony pulling this thriller together as it's L.B.'s peeping that reveals the ugly underneath--revealing something unsavory about himself as well without him truly realizing it.
Hitchcock manages to do more with less than just about any director out there. Using a single soundstage, a small cast and the witty script by John Michael Hayes, Hitchcock crafts one of his classic films. "Rear Window" has aged yes but it looks, sounds and plays remarkably well fifty four years after it's original theatrical release. Highly recommended.