Thinking through a Rear Window

I thought the film was pretty good. Certainly the ending was suspenseful and thrilling, but also the whole plot of the film was quite different and well worked. I found it interesting and cool how the film seemed very realistic insofar as the potential for something similar to it to occur in real life.  A handicapped man “spying” on his neighbours, learning all about them and their love interests, all through his apartment window.  It’s quite a thought-provoking concept, and is thankfully done justice by the film.

However, the style that the director and cinematographers were going for limited the variation of shots that could be used in the film. For instance, there must have been more than 150 medium-close shots (torso up) of Jeff in his wheelchair, another 50+ of the two sections of the Thorwald’s house; Ms. Lonelyheart, the composer, and Ms. Torso were also frequently photographed from similar angles. This means that the shot’s themselves weren’t so important in this film, but rather the movement and actions within each shot that made each one what it was.  Having said that, at times variety was lacking in even that, with Jeff being in a similar position in numerous of the same shots. Furthermore, Ms Torso is consistently dancing; the composer is consistently playing his piano, etc. Therefore, the editing takes precedence over the movement in this film.  

The editing in the film was very good; it needed to be. With little much else to go on the camera and what goes on behind it was critical into making this a good film. As I mentioned earlier there were hundreds of shots of Jeff, in his room, either alone or with Stella, Lisa, or Doyle. However, the lack of variety in all these shots is still surprising; although, this isn’t a bad thing. What makes up for this is the precise timing of each cut and the length of each shot. While we observe Jeff in his flat so many times, it doesn’t come across like we’re being flooded with images of him. There is enough interaction with the other characters and shots of the other neighbours, scattered throughout and carefully placed within the final product, so that we still feel like a story is at work here, not a biography or narration by Jeff. Although, it is still surprising to notice that all the shots of the respective neighbours were almost exactly the same for each one. However, we subconsciously understand that to be what Jeff sees, obviously he’s not going to be inside their apartments getting intimate looks at all, or even some, of them. Therefore, the style still pays off and we feel satisfied with the shots, the sequence of them, and the number of them.

To end with some other last notes, I was rather amused at the end, as Jeff fell from his window, to see startling lack of subtlety with the way Jeff fell. It’s obvious to us that, when shooting, they didn’t drop him a couple of floors into the arms of his friends, because the image of him dropping doesn’t fit the rest of the frame, and unfortunately gives the ending a bit of a comical aspect to it. Also, the way the film ended, while suspenseful and thrilling, came out a little anti-climatic. After Jeff drops, the policemen have interrogated Thorwald and he has confessed to multiple things within seconds of being captured, which seemed a little bit odd and too forward. I feel that they could have padded that out a bit longer, and possibly even have Jeff interview Thorwald to get the confession. Lastly, while I understand how all the neighbours were worked into the film, with the whole “love and marriage” aspect, I was a tad disappointed that we didn’t really get to know them, much more than that. The characters, from the suicidal Ms. Lonelyheart, to the waiting, dancing Ms. Torso had potential to add an extra element to the film. However, I suppose under the constraints of making the film and the continuity of the plot and such, it would have been impractical to attempt to introduce them too much more.