Analyzing Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece.

“Rear Window” is the critically acclaimed 1954 suspense film by Alfred Hitchcock. It follows L.B. ‘Jeff’ Jeffries (James Stewart), a wheelchair-bound photographer, as he witnesses a murder from his apartment window.

“Rear Window” has, hands down, some of the best suspense ever seen in film. Hitchcock did every scene justice with his incredibly well-timed shots, atmosphere, and lighting.

However, for describing things like these, I’m using stand-in words; the intensity in this film is indescribable. One scene in particular had me white-knuckled, which is no over exaggeration.

One attribute that lends the film some of its suspense is definitely the atmosphere. Two things can be responsible for this: for one, the movie was entirely shot on one soundstage. Hitchcock actually had to destroy the floor covering the studio basement to make it all fit. The second attribute is, arguably, even more daring: almost all sound heard within the film is diegetic, which means that all of the sound comes from inside the scene (with the exception of some opening music).

The entire film takes place from the viewpoint of Jeff’s apartment, which allows for a truly voyeuristic experience. Voyeurism is actually one of the main purposes of the movie: Jeff (and the entire audience) is viewing the private lives of these individuals, and this actually comes back around to him near the end of the film.

“Rear Window” is stunning. Featuring themes like voyeurism, it is truly one of the best suspense films ever made.