Sixteen things we have observed about Rear Window over the years.
1. Right at the beginning, the pan around the apartments, a flash bulb goes off in one. I guess to foreshadow the ending.
2. Q once observed that Stewart / Jeff doesn't take a single photo. (In fact he does take one, offscreen, so we can see the different heights of the roses.) But this is really funny. Imagine if he had, throughout, he would have had Thorwald with the knives, with the wedding ring, assaulting Lisa in his apartment.. and best of all, the killer approaching him with intent to kill. Now what a great bit of photo journalism that would have made! Did the Hitchcocks miss this, or did they do it deliberately?
3. The apartment dwellers of course represent the various stages of relationships, but is Jeff also thinking there might Lisa and I end up - just happily married, old and still together.. or murdering each other... And the final sting of the newly-weds - "Why didn't you tell me you lost your job two months ago?" The honeymoon's over...
4. Jeff's paining is a Matisse, Still Life with Asphodels, 1902. How did he happen to own that?
5. It's one of Hitch's least gruesome films - we don't see the murder nor a drop of blood.
6. The sound design is wonderfully clever. Note during the slow motion kiss that all the background sound goes out. Also how when Lisa announces herself, there' a car horn after each name.
7. The effect of the naturally occurring soundtrack - so when Lisa is in Thorwald's flat, it's one of the tensest moments - but the background music is jolly - same effect as Lean's This Happy Breed scene.
8. Hitch's appearance as the winder of a clock is marvellously appropriate.
9. It has some of the best camera operating (William Schurr) and focus pulling ever, for example when we're on binoculars view of Miss Loneyhearts in the cafe and Thorwald comes into view and BANG! the super sharp focus is on him magically (and even better - that amazing pan from the dog to Stewart, perfectly in focus.) the focus puller is uncredited.
10. The scene where Lisa keeps talking over Jeff is very realistic feeling.
11. The ending - where Jeff and Thorwald are grappling near the window, is a wonderfully executed moment of panic and real danger. But why does Hitch speed up some of the exterior action? To make it more dramatic. I have to say it looks a bit silly. (I'm allowed one carp.)
12. It's a wonderful - and wonderfully planned out - set, designed by Joseph MacMillan Johnson.
13. This wonderful mirror image, as both Lisa and Miss Loneyhearts are distracted by the music:
14. Scotty's watch is a 1940s Tissot, quite cool but affordable, even now:
15. We love the way everyone just lets themselves into Stewart's apartment without knocking, even the detective - this is obviously a very deliberate point as finally, it's the murderer who lets himself in - he's just copying everyone else.
16. And finally - what the hell's this object in the background? Jeff's travelled the world so it could be from anywhere. Is it a leprechaun?.
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