A cinematic masterpiece crafted by a renowned director and featuring two of the most celebrated actors of all time is set to grace BBC screens tonight (Sunday).
The 1954 psychological thriller Rear Window, an adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s short story “It Had to Be Murder,” boasts a star-studded cast including James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr. The film garnered four Academy Award nominations, with Alfred Hitchcock receiving a nod for Best Director.
Regarded by countless movie enthusiasts, critics, and scholars as one of Hitchcock’s finest works and among the greatest films ever made, it secured the 42nd spot on AFI’s ‘100 Years…100 Movies’ list and ranked 48th in its 10th anniversary edition. In 1997, the United States National Film Registry in the Library of Congress recognised the film as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
The plot unfolds almost entirely within a single room, where a photographer nursing a broken leg alleviates his boredom by observing his neighbours, leading him to suspect one of them of murder.
Upon its release, Rear Window received widespread critical acclaim, with The New York Times lauding it as a “tense and exciting exercise” and praising Hitchcock for his directorial prowess that ensures a “maximum of build-up to the punch, a maximum of carefully tricked deception and incidents to divert and amuse”.
Variety hailed the film as “one of Alfred Hitchcock’s better thrillers” that “combines technical and artistic skills in a manner that makes this an unusually good piece of murder mystery entertainment”, while decades later, Roger Ebert praised the film for its “develops such a clean, uncluttered line from beginning to end that we’re drawn through it (and into it) effortlessly. The experience is not so much like watching a movie, as like… well, like spying on your neighbours”.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a staggering approval rating of 99% based on 134 reviews, with the critics’ consensus being that “Hitchcock exerted the full potential of suspense in this masterpiece”.
Cinema enthusiasts are also nearly unanimous in their acclaim. One penned: “This stands the test of time. It really is what cinema should be. Entertaining, contemplative, gripping, and beautiful. Highly recommend.”
Another opined: “One of the master of suspense’s most iconic movies for a reason. An almost 2-hour-long thriller that has great writing, fantastic cinematography and an incredible performance by James Stewart.”
A third raved: “The immortal master of suspense strikes again and hits a home run. Rear Window is a unique masterwork of pure thrill and profound intrigue. Every shot is perfectly placed and is geniusly moved about the apartment complex. The use of sound in this movie is incomparable; brilliant and effortlessly effective.”
A few viewers found the film’s pace too leisurely, with one criticising: “Boring, slow and I don’t know why people call it a thriller. Buddy just sits and watches out a window all day.”
Rear Window is airing on BBC4 tonight (Sunday, January 4) at 8pm.
