CATCH A CLASSIC
Rear Window
TCM, 3 p.m.
Best Director Oscar nominee Alfred Hitchcock helmed one of his most renowned, suspenseful and stylish-looking thrillers with this 1954 masterpiece, aided by the lush, Oscar-nominated color cinematography of frequent collaborator Robert Burks. The film stars another regular co-worker of Hitch’s, James Stewart, as professional photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies. After Jeff finds himself confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg during an especially sweltering New York City summer, he whiles away his recovery time by watching his neighbors through the windows of their close-quartered buildings and in the courtyard shared by their apartment complexes — going so far as to peep at them through binoculars. Jeff becomes obsessed with viewing their different private dramas play out in what almost seem like mini-movies, but the
“movie” he sees through the window of one neighbor, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), leads him to suspect Thorwald of murdering his nagging wife. Jeff enlists his socialite girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly), to help investigate the suspicious chain of events, leading to one of the most memorable and gripping endings in all of film history. In Rear Window, Hitchcock’s terrific visual approach offers plenty of interesting things to say about subjects ranging from questioning the nature of reality, even as seen through our own eyes, to commentary and critiques of movie audiences (and directors), but above all it’s a fun and brilliantly crafted, edge-of-your-seat experience. —