A 'Rear Window' on to the human experience

 So, I watched for, um, maybe the 15th time, my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, 1954’s Rear Window. I learned from TCM host Dave Karger that the film, set quite convincingly in Lower Manhattan, actually used the biggest Paramount set ever built – with some 60 apartments - to create the downtown New York vibe. The film resonates with lots of wider themes about urban alienation and Peeping Toms or neighborly “spying” (maybe some of that is going on during Covid-19?). And it’s also a love story between Jeff Jefferies (James Stewart) and Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly – was there ever a more beautiful woman?). But the nub of the story is of course a murder mystery. The “Peeping Tom” in this case is Jefferies, holed up in his apartment with a broken leg after being injured as a photojournalist shooting a car race, his camera also convincingly smashed. Jefferies’ apartment overlooks a courtyard surrounded by various apartment buildings offering a bird’s eye view of its colorful inhabitants. Hence, with not much better to do, Jefferies finds himself following the actions of his neighbors. Admonishes his caregiver, Stella (Thelma Ritter) in homespun wisdom, “we’ve become a race of Peeping Toms.” The neighbors in fact make a fanciful collage: Miss Toros (Georgine Darcy) a shapely dancer, Miss Lonelyhearts (Judith Evelyn) who can’t find a man, the frustrated songwriter (Ross Bagdasarian), and Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr). It is Thorwald who most piques Jefferies interest. One day Thorwald’s invalid wife is in the apartment and the next day she isn’t. And Thorwald is seen carrying out various suitcases.  Yes, the murder mystery is the film’s nub. But it’s the overall atmosphere and sub stories which, for me, are just as interesting and make the film. This studio set has all the earmarks of a real neighborhood, with the rumble of traffic on the streets, children's playing voices, music streaming from open windows, even ships’ horns throbbing from New York harbor. Most noticeable is the composer’s scores and other songs (Mona Lisa, To See You Is to Love You, That’s Amore) but always indistinctly echoing from a distance. Franz Waxman’s opening and closing swirling jazz score is playful yet mysterious. And the intriguing sub stories? Miss Lonelyhearts – neurotic there is no man in her life with her make believe and ill-fated dates. Miss Toros – the shapely beauty whose true love is not anyone you might expect but is only oh so true. The songwriter character is at turns frustrated yet a bonhomie. And then there is the yin yang of Jefferies and Fremont’s relationship. She, a fashionista and toast of Park Avenue and he, a dungaree wearing globe trotting photographer. ”Those high heels, they’ll be a hit in the jungle,” he scoffs at her seeming incompatibility. So, while Rear Window is a murder mystery it works on a much wider scale, depicting the tapestry of life – human successes and failures, the juxtaposition of character types - all surrounded by the quotidian of daily experience.