Although most recent critical attention has been reserved for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, thanks to its vertiginous placement atop Sight & Sound’s prestigious critics poll, it could be argued that not only does his seminal 1954 picture, Rear Window, most clearly represent the director’s own obsessions but that it may well be his greatest achievement as a filmmaker.

Even if you haven’t seen the film yourself (and if you haven’t stop reading this review and watch it now) you will at least be familiar with the story. Not only has the plot of a wheelchair bound photographer who believes he has witnessed a murder become ingrained in the public’s consciousness but it has been remade and re-imagined numerous times in many different…

Part of the Alfred Hitchcock Sound Era Films In Chronological Order project.

Contrary to popular belief, Rear Window is not a perfect film. It's a film, after all, that has James Stewart seriously considering breaking up with Grace Kelly because she's too perfect for him.

I do wonder if LB Jefferies was an inspiration to Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David when they wrote Seinfeld, what with all the disastrous dates and relationships that were broken up in that series over the most mystifying of reasons. I wouldn't be surprised to find out this was the case. But Rear Window is one of those films whose influence has not just been confined to thrillers, mysteries and even 'one location' films -…

Intelligence. Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence.
-Stella

A perfect film if ever there was one. I feel like I might proclaim that every time I watch a film by Alfred Hitchcock, but in truth I don't think all his films are perfect. He's just made so many that are or near perfect that it seems like I say that all the time. I have however seen Rear Window enough times that I have no doubts about it being a masterpiece from the master.

This film has been unofficially remade several times in film and television but has never come close to the original. Hitchcock often called the Master of Suspense, was also the master…

"You're giving them far too much water!"
#72 on Berken's Favorite Movies Of All Time

Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window's opening bursts with life and atmosphere, one of the fullest, most inviting, and astonishingly textured mise en scènes ever put to celluloid. An entire neighborhood and mood is established at once as the camera slides casually around a cluster of buildings facing the titular window, while the lively inhabitants and even the local wildlife come to life on a sweltering Summer morning. Never a plot point, the palpable heat is nevertheless crucial, forcing us to imagine what it would be like to be there. Likewise, the private nature of what we're watching (particularly in the case of Ms. Torso) and the…

Here I am, pleased to greet 2013 with the ultimate in nostalgia trips. The new year will offer exciting new endeavours for film fans. We will all accumulate new favorites, invite new genres and experience new sensations we never thought could exist. This was a lot of 2012 for me. Newness of genre, brushing up on director's careers, seeking to expand the library in my head. And if there's one dark alley I don't want to find myself down, it's the one where jaded cinephiles twiddle and plunder the simple joys where movie magic flourishes.

Take this interview with Quentin Tarantino for example. There is a pureness to the illusion he mentions that the classics simply overflow with. Hence, my…