Mr. DuLac’s review published on Letterboxd:
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 of minimal sets. That's not to say that most of his films have minimal sets, quite frankly it's only a few. Those few however take it to the extreme sometimes and they are actually truly great films full of suspense. Rear Window isn't the first, other examples would be Rope that takes place solely in an apartment and Lifeboat which takes place entirely, well, in a lifeboat.
The genius of the film is actually what most of the "remakes" don't have the guts to do. L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart) has been stuck in a wheelchair for weeks and still has another 7 days left before the cast on his leg is taken off. He's stuck in an apartment and for the most part confined to one room with a view of a courtyard surrounded by apartment buildings. The genius of it is that we as the viewer see everything from that room. We see nothing that Jefferies doesn't see (except for one scene) and anything outside of the apartment is seen through his point of view. It automatically creates an incredibly strong connection with Stewart's character for the viewer. When he's amused by what his neighbors are doing, so are you. When he suspects some wrong doings, so are you. Most importantly when he feels frustrated and helpless to save himself or anyone else around him, you are right there with him.
James Stewart is of course perfectly cast as the everyday man who slowly gets sucked into voyeurism. It's done so convincingly and well that Stewart never seems creepy for spying on his neighbors, even when he starts using binoculars followed by a powerful camera zoom lens. Having the entire film take place inside that one room makes you feel his monotony and desperate need to find something to break it. By the time the question of whether or not what he's doing is morally wrong he's already peered into private moments of his neighbors without giving a second thought about it. Of course there's the excuse that he thinks a murder might have occurred, but he began watching them before anything suspicious came up.
Charming doesn't even begin to describe Grace Kelly as Lisa Carol Fremont, Jefferies girlfriend. Probably my favorite Kelly performance as her screen presence is simply indescribable. Thelma Ritter is great as Jefferies' quirky home-care nurse that can't help but always share what's on her mind. Raymond Burr is the quintessential suspicious neighbor. He's borderline sinister while maintaining an air of innocence so you're never quite sure. Rounding out the cast is Wendell Corey as the only other visitor in Jefferies apartment as Lt. Doyle. He manages to seem amused and annoyed by the theories thrown at him, first by Jefferies but soon enough others join in.
While a generation of film-goers used to quick editing and having an action sequence thrown at them every 10 minutes might disagree with me, but this is a perfectly paced suspenseful thriller like no other that builds to a perfect climax. No matter how many times I watch this film, it still pulls me in.