How HItchcock's 'Rear Window' Shaped My Love of Movies

No matter how you cut it, there are very few movie buffs in the world that can tell you that they fell in love with movies during a high school English class.

Yes, it is hard to believe, but in a setting normally reserved for having to watch "Old Yeller" or "Death of a Salesman," I learned to truly appreciate cinema.

During my senior year, my English class took the time to examine filmmaking. We discussed camera work, lighting, screenwriting, and styles, all of which left me begging for more. It wasn't until we saw it all in action that I actually fell in love with the medium though.

That was when they showed us Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window."

"Rear Window," tells the story of a photographer (James Stewart) who, while laid up with a broken leg, turns to voyeurism to help pass the time while recovering. During one such viewing session, Stewart's "Jeff" thinks he witnesses a neighbor (Raymond Burr) kill his wife. Soon, Grace Kelly is brought into the mix as Stewart's girlfriend and both of them set out to find out the truth.

The beauty of "Rear Window" is in its simplicity.

The entirety of the movie is basically set in Stewart's apartment, with just a brief jaunt outside of it. The camera work and lighting are used intricately to both make the scenery look larger than it is, while also conveying just how small Stewart's world is and how it is closing around him.

The other fascinating piece of this film is that while the suspense builds and pulls the audience in, it does it all without any violence or gore, letting the viewer put themselves in Stewart's shoes. Suspense through subtlety was Hitchcock's greatest achievement and "Rear Window" was an excellent showcase of that.

In regards to the acting, you have to praise it as much as the film itself. Stewart, Kelly, and Burr do an excellent job in helping to build the tension throughout the movie, selling the predicament and consequences like it could happen to any of us with a pair of binoculars. Stewart is brilliant, showing once again why he was one of AFI's 3^rd Ranked Actor of All-Time. Raymond Burr, while mostly remembered for his turn as criminal attorney "Perry Mason," was also brilliant as the suspected killer Lars Thorwald. And none of that takes away from Grace Kelly, who was as beautiful and innocent as ever playing Stewart's on screen love interest turned cohort.

Rear Window is a perfect showcase to how much more attention was put into emotion and mood in the older films than it is today. Still, it is every reason I watch and love movies today, giving me a constantly high bar to compare my new favorites against.