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1. Sarah O'Connor 03.22.11 / 5pm

   One of the key elements of the film Rear Window, and also in this review, is Alfred Hitchcock’s filming techniques—we, as viewers, are peeping toms who follow the storyline by following Jeffries’s finger out his back window. Suspicion exists because of a fear that cannot be fully explained. The constant shift from one apartment window to the next, as well as the shift from the camera lens to Jeffries’s camera lens, builds anticipation and heightens confusion. My one point of contention involves the character played by Grace Kelly. I find that Kelly’s role does not exist to illustrate the socialite atmosphere in New York City. Although at the beginning of the film Jefferies tells her that he doubts her ability to be adventurous, but her fearlessness during the murder investigation proves him wrong. I think Kelly’s character illustrates the adventurous spirit of women.
2. Renee Handley 07.12.15 / 7pm

   Transference of Guilt:
   Hitchcock often employed a “transference of guilt” where an “innocent” weak character yields to a stronger evil character by sharing his guilt and this weakness/guilt is magnified (Hoerneman). This can be interpreted as seemingly innocent people can have a secret, concealed dark side. For instance, in “Strangers on a Train” Guy goes along with Bruno’s plan because he really does want to kill his wife. Thus, he transferred his guilt through his weakness to the psychotic Bruno who ultimately kills Guy’s wife Miriam. Hitchcock often uses the “double” in his films as a way to draw parallels between two characters. For example, two characters sharing the same type of desire (murder here), although only one of them is depraved enough to take action.

   Double Relationships / Appearance & Reality:
   Hitchcock was fascinated by the concept of “doubles” as shown visually in his films. I found Hitchcock’s use of “the act of looking” very interesting. He found a way to symbolically explore two-sides of the same personality. In “Strangers on a Train,” the image of Bruno killing Miriam is reflected in her broken glasses. Later, Bruno is reminded of his killing Miriam when he sees Barbara, the younger sister of Anne, wearing similar glasses. This while he is demonstrating how he would kill someone by chocking them to death. The doubling of the characters, Guy and Bruno, can be interpreted as two-sides of a single personality. Specifically, the hero (Guy), is seen as the conscious control and the evil villain (Bruno) is the demonic conscious (Giannetti 298). Bruno, in “Strangers on a Train” appears to be charming and polite and able to fit-in easily with high society, but in reality he is a psychotic villain. Other double comparisons in “Strangers on a Train” is the relationship between Miriam and Anne. They both want to have a male-female relationship with Guy, but are different in their personalities where Anne is the “good double” and Miriam the “evil double.” In addition, the comparison between Miriam and Barbara who resemble one another in appearance and somewhat in personality, but Barbara is the obedient “good double.” The “good double” reveals a strong inner conflict between the fear of involvement and the fear of non-involvement, doing the wrong thing, going to prison and ultimately death. The “good double” learns about his/her dark side and his/her potential for evil that is brought about by the “evil double.”

   Order and Chaos:
   Film critic Thomas Hemmeter pointed out “Hitchcock views the world as a volatile duality of order and chaos, where the forces of order are but a frail hedge against arbitrary eruptions of disorder from nature, society, or from within the mind…” where the criminal, the psychotic and the demonic intrude with brutal violence into the lives of normal law abiding people (Giannetti 294). Hitchcock’s characters are either destroyed or are transformed to view the world and themselves as a duality of good/bad or innocent/guilty as the characters move through their world to determine what is an illusion and what is real. In other words, he blurs the lines between reality (the familiar) and the strange. Hitchcock tends to blur moral distinctions between his doubled characters where “all villains are not black and all heroes are not white… there are grays everywhere” (Granetti 304). For example, the villain, Bruno, in “Strangers on a Train” was charming and polite and able to fit-in easily with high society.

   Works Cited:

   Giannetti, Louis. “Masters of the American Cinema.” New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,1981. Print.
3. Renee Handley 07.12.15 / 7pm

   I really enjoyed watching “Rear Window.” The film presented a psychological look into the inhabitants of each of the apartment dwellers from the perspective of the single main character, L.B. Jeffries. The movie had the standard Hitchcock themes – order vs. chaos (a criminal act takes place within a typical multi-tenant living situation; murder within a family (Lars Thorwald murders his wife within sight of all the tenants); characters that have multiple identities (Lars Thorwald appears to be a diligent saleman and dutiful husband to his invalid wife, but ends up killing her); distrust of the law (Jefferies hesitates bring the law in fearing he will not be believed); punishing out-of-control women (the angry, adulterous Lars Thorwald murdering his invalid, nagging wife); and the coupling of the main male-female characters at the end of the film (the main character and his fiancé). In addition, the movie had Hitchcock’s method of creating suspense and keeping it going from beginning to end. The addition of color and lively music adds to building up suspense and presenting the psychological profiles of each of the characters. The movie begins with the director’s camera making a continuous, long pan movement across the apartment’s courtyard showing all the tenants in their individual independent actions. This introduces the audience to the characters to be analyzed in this film. Much of the suspense is created by focusing the camera on the main character’s facial expressions which show his reaction to what he is seeing or thinking.

   Each of the apartment tenants offer a social comment on marriage as well an overall survey of male/female relationships (e.g., from the honeymooners to the happy couple who own a dog; to the dancer waiting for the return of her military partner; to the struggling music composer; to the lonely, alcoholic, pill-popping lady; to the middle aged artist; and circling around to the murderous spouse) as the main character spies through his “rear window” on them. Of the female characters, there is a sexual depiction of a young, pretty dancer, who is constantly turning away suitors. And, there is the dutiful depiction of the young fiancé of the character who helps him spy and report on his murderous neighbor, and whom he describes as being too “perfect.”

   My favorite commentary on neighbors and community living is when one of the neighbor’s finds her dog dead in the courtyard with its neck broken and she cries out “You don’t know the meaning of the word “neighbors.” Neighbors like each other, speak to each other, care if anybody lives or dies! But none of you do…” That is until the main character L.B. Jeffries gets involved as a voyeur from his wheelchair point-of-view spying on his neighbors from his “rear window.”
4. Derek Tilton 07.19.16 / 9pm

   Good review! “Rear Window” is honestly like no other film that I’ve watched; it’s so unique and the cinematography for the film is the closest a film can get to perfection. As much as I thought that James Stewart was amazing as the lead role, I honestly thought that Grace Kelly stole the film. Kelly was so amazing in that film, and her character was also very interesting to me, as it was almost like Kelly’s character evolved drastically as Stewart’s character became more and more obsessed with staring at his neighbors. I definitely think that “Rear Window” is one of Hitchcock’s best, if not his best work. Again, good review!
5. Nicole Hamm 06.14.23 / 4pm

   The setup of “Rear Window” is one of my favorites in film history. The cinematography and Hitchock’s purpose behind each frame make this a very interesting watch. For instance, in the beginning scene the audience sees a man in a wheelchair with a broken leg- then we see a camera, hinting towards him being a photographer. Next, the camera pans to photographs of a car crash and a wheel flying towards the camera, giving more context as to how the man broke his leg. Lastly, the audience sees magazines, suggesting that this is what the man had to settle for since he could not do action shots. In just a couple seconds, Hitchock was able to tell a complex story, which is his trademark in the film world. As Gleeson mentions, Grace Kelly was the romantic interest of Jefferies in this film, as well as the woman he photographed for the magazine, which we can connect throughout the story without having it explicitly said. Hitchock also utilizes the use of perspective- with one example being the shot of lobster being unappetizing from Jeff’s perspective due to the conversation of murder surrounding him.

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