Rear Window

Rear Window, Editing, and More

Like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954) is an exercise in voyeurism. How do the images behind the opening credits reinforce this?

How do the film’s opening shots establish Jeffries’s occupation? What props, images, etc. are we privy to that help construct his character?

From whose point of view is this narrative told? How does Hitchcock maintain this?

If we consider Jeffries’s apartment complex a microcosm of America (indeed, it is the only “world” we are allowed in the film), what cross-section of America are we given? Is anyone left out?

How does Hitchcock join his shots of Jeff’s dozing off (after his lobster dinner with Lisa and the first time he begins to spy on Thorwald)? Why is this method effective here, and what does this shot transition suggest?

How many different ways are cameras and other objects-for-viewing used in this film? How do you know which of Jeffries’s POV shots use these sorts of devices and which do not?

It would seem that a film shot predominately from the confines of a man’s apartment would be boring. How does Hitchcock defy this notion? How does he make the film visually interesting?

How are sex and love relationships treated in this film? (NOTE: There are images in this film that were risqué for the time period in which the film was released…)

Jeffries is seemingly positioned the same distance from each of the apartments across from him. Why don’t all of his normal POV shots (without the assistance of cameras, etc.) appear to be the same distance, and why doesn’t the average filmgoer notice this? (See examples below.)

Describe Lisa’s costumes throughout the film. What does she wear in the final scene? How is this significant?

Describe the relationship between Jeff and Lisa. When in the narrative does she finally become interesting to him?

Again, Rear Window is an exercise in voyeurism. At one point in the film, Stella argues, “We’ve become a race of Peeping Toms. People ought to get outside and look in at themselves.” What do you think the director might be trying to say with this film?