Rear Window

The outstanding Rear Window receives four stars. Finally, a decent picture. Actually, Rear Window is better than decent, and it is the first good movie I have seen since Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I was mistaken in my previous post where I identified Iron Man as the last good movie I have seen.

As usual with Hitchcock's films, it begins with an excellent piece of music, and the rest of the score stays up to par. Shyamala tried to copy this in The Happening, which aside from the scenes with the creepy old woman, were probably the best elements of that film. There was also some excellent dialog. My favorite set was an exchange between Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, where Stewart is trying to convince Kelly that they are incompatible because they have lived in different worlds, but Kelly is not accepting the argument pointing out that Stewart's ultimate conclusion is that men should die where they were born. Several times during the conversation Stewart tells Kelly to "shut up." A rarity in film dialog between loved ones, even when they are having a fight. The whole conversation is then ended with:
Kelly - Goodbye.
Stewart - You mean goodnight.
Kelly - I meant what I said. Goodbye, forever... or at least until tomorrow night.
There were also some clever lines from Stewart's insurance company nurse. Stewart happened to break his leg when a car crashed at a race while he was taking photographs for the magazine he works for. His insurance company then provided a nurse, and when I say she had some clever lines, I mean every time she spoke. Maybe, they were not necessarily clever, but entertaining and displaying man's interest in violence. Just seeing an old nurse saying, "Where do you suppose he cut her up? The bath tub. I mean, that would be the only place where he could wash up all the blood easily."Movies do not use music or dialog like this anymore.

The film was also effectively intriguing and thrilling. I would not say the movie was incredibly thrilling, until the end though, when Kelly and the nurse explore a neighbor's garden and apartment for murder evidence. At this point Stewart must watch Kelly in the murderer's apartment across they way when the murderer returns, while he is grounded by a broken leg. Fortunately, he is already on the phone with the police because he was calling to inform them another woman, in another apartment was about to commit suicide. Fortunately, Ms. Lonely Hearts is then distracted and Stewart can guiltlessly tell the police Kelly is being attacked. This is then immediately followed by the murderer discovering that Stewart has been spying on him. There is then a confrontation in the dark of Stewart's apartment between him and the murderer, while Kelly, the nurse, and the police are at the police station. The incapacitated Stewart must then defend himself by blinding the murderer with flash bulbs from his camera. Fortunately, the police arrive just in time to save Stewart as he is being throne from the window.

The rest of the film is not as heart pounding as this, but there is an intriguing thrill to watching bits and pieces of the murderer's life from Stewart's eyes. The man leaves several times in the middle of the night with a suit case while it is raining. The shades of his apartment remain closed. He covers a saw and large knife - it actually looked more like a machete - with newspaper. When he opens the shades of his wife's bedroom the mattress is rolled up and a trunk is packaged. The murderer looks through his wife's purse. He also makes several long distance calls. All very suspicious activities, even more suspicious because one is seeing a private life secretly; however, none of it is enough to arrest the man on murder.

Another positive to the film is that the characters discuss the theme outright. At one point Stewart says, "I wonder if it is ethical to spy on a man, even if he did commit murder." At another point Stewart's friend, Lt. Doyle of the police department, informs him and Kelly that in the trunk was the murderer's wife's clothes and that she had moved to Marinsville safely. Lt. Doyle then leaves, and Stewart and Kelly are disappointed that they are wrong. Once again the theme is discusses outright, Kelly says something like, "Why are we miserable that she is alive? We should be happy. Not disappointed that he didn't commit murder." Since theme is the most important element of the story, the audience should not be left guessing as to what it is. The characters should discuss it. The theme is the purpose of the story, there is no reason to hide it from the audience. Furthermore, the characters are experiencing a particular situation with specific moral questions. The characters themselves are aware of the moral issues, they should not be so ignorant as to not discuss them.

Unfortunately, one questionable moment of the film is when Kelly and the nurse, particularly Kelly, violate the murderer's property rights. First, the both of them dig up his garden, revealing no evidence. Second, Kelly goes into the murderer's apartment while he is not there to acquire some possible evidence. She is arrested, and immediately released on bail, and Stewart does acknowledge that she burglarized. The unfortunate part is that this vicious action ultimately leads to the murderer's arrest. Kelly's and the nurse's actions are important to have in the film because they raise the theme as to whether or not violating another's rights, even if it proves murder, is virtuous. Stewart raises a similar thematic question when he asks if its ethical to spy on a man even if he did commit murder. However, that act should have been punished more severely, or addressed more by the characters. Having that action cause the arrest of the murderer does raise the question I just spoke about, but there is no answer to the question.

Finally, the last positive point of the movie is Grace Kelly. Enough said.