Blog #4

Rear Window (1954)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

The film, Rear Window, directed by Alfred Hitchcock displays the lives of L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies neighbors. Jeff views these peoples lives through his rear window and people-watches every single day due to his leg injury. Hitchcock does an incredible job showing suspense within the plot through his work in mise-en-scene (MES).

Jeff and his girlfriend Lisa become fascinated by the neighbors’ livelihood, but in particular the life of Thorwald and his wife. Jeff explained to Lisa and his nurse that Thorwald murdered his wife after watching his actions throughout the week the potential incident occurred. In one scene specifically, Hitchcock provides a tremendous amount of suspense when Lisa is trying to find evidence in Thorwald’s apartment. As Lisa is rummaging through Thorwald’s belongings, he is seen walking back into his apartment. The camera shows the whole scene so the audience knows Thorwald is coming but Lisa has no idea. Another scene where suspense occurred was when Thorwald was walking up into Jeff’s apartment to seek him out. The noise of steps marching slowly up the stairs and Jeff’s vulnerability being handicapped showed to be a hopeless situation for Jeff to be in.

Along with the scene where Thorwald creeps into Jeff’s apartment, lighting is a key role in providing fear. The shading on Thorwald as he enters Jeff’s room is dark, you can hardly see him. Jeff is covered in dark lighting too, almost as though they appear to be invisible to each other, like they were the whole film. Jeff’s use of the flashing bulbs provided the thrill of not knowing when Thorwald would regain eyesight to attack him. The bulbs created more time for the police to come and also saved Jeff’s life in the end. The use of MES to create suspense was so creative and intricate. I’m so intrigued by Hitchcock’s artistic direction throughout the making of this film, and how he brought it to life.