Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

This review contains spoilers. 

It’s about time I got around to reviewing a film by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time — a master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, whose films have left a lasting impact on both film theory and pop culture. Out of his impressive filmography, Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” (1954) is a clear example of this fact. And yes, the last film I reviewed starred Jimmy Stewart as well, but now he’s in color.

Photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart) has been stuck in a wheelchair for weeks with a cast around his leg, passing the time by observing his eclectic assortment of neighbors from his apartment window. The narrative picks up with a week left in his bedrest (during which he never seems to actually sleep in a bed). Jeffries believes one of his neighbors, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife, Emma Thorwald (Irene Winston). He spends the rest of the film investigating with his fiancé, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) and his nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter). The trio gets a detective involved, who believes that they’re just paranoid. Eventually, they get too close to the danger and things come to blows.

I will never cease to be impressed by the ingenuity of a well-crafted bottle movie. The majority of this movie’s narrative unfolds in a single location, and the simplicity in location requires a complexity in characters, dialogue and narrative that results in exceptional films like “12 Angry Men” (1957) and “Reservoir Dogs” (1992). “Rear Window” is no exception and boasts well-written dialogue and a thrilling narrative. It’s a thriller with slow, rising suspense rather than twists and turns that turn the narrative on its head. The only major twist that left a lasting impression was another murder partway through the film, which served as an excellent revitalization of the plot and provided extra motivation for the protagonists to save their neighbors. The film keeps you hooked with the burning question of whether or not Thorwald killed his wife. 

Watching “Rear Window” is like changing a radio station by turning a knob: on one channel is a news report about a horrific murder, and on the other, there’s classical music. With each new piece of information, the direction of the dial is turned slightly one way or the other: happy to tragic, tragic to happy. It isn’t until the climax that the knob moves further and further into the direction you were scared it would go — until the danger is pounding at your ears.

A good bottle movie needs good characters. More importantly, it needs a link between those characters and a powerful conflict. It’s this push and pull that makes a film’s emotional conflict thrilling as its narrative one. 

In “Rear Window,” this conflict is between Jeff and Lisa — fiancés who don’t match. Jeff is a rough-and-tumble photographer, ready to be sent to the other side of the world at the drop of a hat but cursed to be stuck in his apartment while he heals. Lisa is a force of nature within the fashion industry and accustomed to a high-class, sheltered way of life. Jeff doesn’t believe he can go through with the marriage because of their lifestyle differences. But Lisa is determined to prove that he’s wrong and that she can charge into danger … meanwhile, Jeff is helplessly forced to watch. The genius of these two characters is that they’re polar opposites united by their obsession with Thorwald. It’s a relationship that creates compelling and wonderful drama. My only qualm about their relationship is that in the rush to wrap up the murder mystery, the ending to Jeff and Lisa’s love story was quite weak and unsatisfying.

It’s hard to pull off a movie where the camera almost never leaves a single room, but Hitchcock isn’t considered a master filmmaker for nothing. “Rear Window” is a magnificently written thriller, courtesy of John Michael Hayes, and is expertly directed by Hitchcock. The performances of Stewart and Kelly are great, and their chemistry is even better. If that wasn’t enough, the inclusion of subplots about the other neighbors adds to the film’s recurring theme of romantic relationships and the conflicts that form within them. These subplots add to the texture of the world, enhancing the joy of experiencing the film. 

For any fan of Hitchcock, thrillers or expert storytelling, “Rear Window” is a must-watch.