Rear Window: Turning Audiences to Peeping Toms Since 1954 - Nikki Anzalone

    
A man limited to a wheelchair and, in turn, an audience limited to a singular point of view; this is the essence of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. It makes no attempt at flashy action sequences or sharp, snippy dialog. Its artistry lies purely in its hero (played with subtle brilliance by James Stewart) and his reactions to a peculiar sequence of events seen through the titular rear window. Hitchcock doesn’t quite leave his audience on the edge of their seats, holding their collective breath, but Rear Window has within it a suspense of it’s own creation: the wonder if there is anything really happening in this movie at all.

  After injuring himself in the field, photographer L. B. Jeffries or “Jeff” (Stewart) is left with nothing more to do than to look out his window and observe the world around him. This is an easy task, the unbearable heat has encouraged his neighbors to leave their windows wide open giving Jeff, and in turn the audience, a front row seat to their lives. At first, what Jeff sees is benign but soon the salesman Thorvald (Raymond Burr) going out late several times one night becomes the first in a long series of suspicious actions. Thorvald’s nagging wife disappears, he carries saws and rope, he sends off a trunk with all her things but leaves her handbag behind. Rear Window’s methods are simple, it’s “show don’t tell”.

When Jeff peers through a high powered camera lens and spots a little dog digging in Thorvald’s garden, the audience finds it just a strange as he does. The film doesn’t need words to tell that something is happening because it is right there on the screen. It is left up to the audience to find out.

    Part way through the story, Jeff’s nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) scolds him for his behavior remarking “We’ve become a race of Peeping Toms.” It’s true that Hitchcock’s fascination for watching others is central to the story’s plot. Without the voyeuristic tendencies of Jeff, audiences would be treated to 114 minutes of James Stewart trying to scratch his leg with a spoon while pretending to not be in love with Grace Kelly.

Speaking of, there is something to be said of Rear Window’s Hitchcock blonde, Lisa. She falls into the usual tropes, holding in her heart a passion for Jeff (that he doesn’t exactly share). However, Kelly’s Lisa is not so much a fantasy, she stands for a life that Jeff has been so desperate to elude and in the end he falls prey to it.  She’s a puzzle he must solve, battling his own fears of commitment and impotence in the midst of solving a murder.

    The main plot of Rear Window isn’t quite packed with symbolism or carefully crafted mise en scène like Hitchcock’s Psycho. There are point-of-view shots and some more neutral shots and the occasional lighting effect, nothing special. The various stories seen in the single set of the courtyard are (quite literally) another story. The story of Miss Lonelyhearts comes to mind: a horrendously lonely woman nearly driven to suicide is saved by the song of the composer across the way. Her story and even her name relies entirely on Jeff’s perspective. This is true for his other neighbors as well. Miss Torso, Miss Hearing Aid, Songwriter, all of their characterization comes from the lazy sweep of Jeff’s camera. The audience is able to form opinions through what Jeff sees and hears in that moment. In one instance, Miss Lonelyhearts bursts into tears over a table set for two and at the same time Songwriter struggles to come up with his next line of music. In another, a pair of naive newlyweds enter their new home. At first they’re eager to start a life together but as time goes on it becomes clear the husband is starting to feel weighed down by his bride. There is obviously a story in Rear Window, but like in life, it’s not the only one.

It’s small moments of masterful execution that make Rear Window: the point-of view, the stories outside, the look on Jeff’s face when he spots something new. It’s not a perfect story, the climax is admittedly less than thrilling, but it’s engaging in a way most movies aren’t, on a more intimate scale. In 114 minutes, Hitchcock shows it doesn’t take a foreboding location or a shocking twist to capture an audience. Sometimes, all it takes is an open window.

Literally "Psycho" - Joy Layton

A domineering mother creates a psychopathic, yet lonesome, son who, despite his flaws, manages to grab the viewer's heart and win their sympathy in this the classic Hitchcock film. Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960 is literally psychotic. It's a movie that leaves a certain type of haunting for futures to come, Psycho is the reason why people don't want to close their eyes in the shower. This movie throws viewers through a loop and plays with heartstrings. It's definitely a must watch for all generations.

 All Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) wants is to be able to be with Sam Loomis (John Gavin), so when $40,000 practically falls into her lap she takes the opportunity and to leave Arizona and be with Sam in California.  Little did she know, what she really needed to be worried about was her life. It's raining and very dark outside when Marion sees Bates Motel for the first time. As she pulled in, she had no idea about the danger inside. Poor Marion reaches her bitter end when she is gutted in the shower by Norman Bates's (Anthony Perkins) mom or at least that's who we think held the knife. We never see the murderer's face.

Psycho keeps everyone wondering who is who and what is what. Every time Mother Bates kills someone, poor Norman is left to clean up her mess. Or is it really poor Norman? Nope not at all. Norman was controlled by an overbearing mother who eventually got a lover and Norman wanting her attention so bad went crazy and killed them both.  But Norman felt horrible for what he had done and made himself without knowing an alter ego which is his mother.  So this is where everyone feels bad for Norman even though  he was the one who killed the people it was all caused by the insanity of his mother since youth.  

This is definitely a classic that everyone will know about for generations. Psycho shows that Alfred Hitchcock was one of the best scary movie directors of all time; A true master of suspense.