Rating: 
Summary: "Meet the Neighbors".......
Review: This review refers to the Collector's Edition (Universal) Widescreen DVD release of "Rear Window"......Think of Alfred Hitchcock and immediately you think of some of the best thrillers to ever come to the screen. His name is synonymous with suspense and horror. But his excellence as a suspenseful story teller does not end with the gripping edge of your seat story that we all love to be frightned by. It goes beyond that, as he delves into the lives of the characters that we find ourselves getting caught up with and maybe even identifying with. "Rear Window" is probably the definitive film of Hitchcock's brillant career that combines these elements, along with the humor,sensuality and the camera work he is famous for. Jimmy Stewart plays the lead character in this frightning tale. He is L.B. Jeffries, a photojournalist who is now wheelchair bound,due to a broken leg. It is not just the cast on his leg that is driving him crazy, he is itching for some adventure and cooped up in his tiny apartment seems to be getting cabin fever. Inquistive by nature, this regular joe or "Jeff" as he's called, innocently starts looking across the courtyard of the apartment complex just to see what the neighbors are up to.And the beauty of this film is that we become involved with these people right along with him.
We become intrigued by the many different personalities he is privy to. There's the ballerina, the songwriter, the newlyweds(darn they pulled the shades down!),the lonley spinster and the pitiful salesman (Raymond Burr) who seems to be saddled with a nagging wife. Hitch weaves his magic, and even as "Jeff" falls asleep, we are still privy to something possibly sinister going on in this last apartment and you just want to say "Wake up Jimmy, look what Raymond Burr is doing now!"
Jeff becomes more and more involved with the lives he is intruding on, and eventually realizes there are some strange and sinister events happening and has reason to believe, there has been a murder. But how can he prove this? Who would believe him? There is not enough evidence to prove it, as a matter of fact most of the evidence proves the victim is merely away on a trip.The suspense is riveting and frightning as the "suspect" realizes he is being watched, and poor Jimmy all alone in the wheelchair, defenseless, with only his camera to protect him! There is yet a second story line going on in this little apartment. One of romance(of course). Grace Kelly, plays Lisa, a beautiful socialite enamored of Jeff and is doing her best to direct Jeff's attention away from the window and towards her. Jeff of course finds her devastingly beautiful but is not ready to committ to a stationary life. Lisa, in some very tense moments and in her quest to prove to him that she can live any life he has in mind, risks her own life and limb to help him prove his murder theory. Looking for Hitch....Close to the :30 minute mark you will find him making good use of his "Time" on screen. Stewart is so captivating in his performance, his facial expressions alone tell the story of what he is witnessing. Grace Kelly was honored with Best Actress awards from both the Nat'l Board of Review and the N.Y. Film Critics(also for her work that year in "The Country Girl" and "Dial M for Murder"). She is simply marvelous in this role. Raymond Burr, a man of few words in this one, is terrific at scaring us to death. And I must also mention the best character actress ever to grace the screen,(nominated 6 times for Best Supporting actress by Oscar), Miss Thelma Ritter. She is outstanding as Jeff's nurse who's words seem to take on new meaning when she says them. The film,made in 1954, is beautifully restored and looks great on this transfer to DVD. "The Kiss" scene must be seen to be appreciated. The color seems just a little dated, but hardly noticable. The pictures is clear, in Anamorphic Widescreen at 1.66:1(the intended ratio).The Sound is very good in Dolby Stereo. Lots of Special Features(see tech info for complete list) including a featurette where you will find filmaker Peter Bogdonavich, talking about the film and even has some audio interviews with "the master" himself giving his viewpoints of certain scenes. The captions for hearing impaired are good, indicating when there is music and who is singing(i.e. Bing Crosby). But the captions are not in the black bar portion, but at the bottom of the picture. All together a great package for a great classic. Watch it with your neighbor(or maybe not...)......enjoy...Laurie
Rating: 
Summary: Great film, bad restoration
Review: I've always loved this film but was shocked by the poor quality of this restoration. The grain is heavy and the colors are flat. Was the negative that bad? Could it be the transfer? It appears worse than the prints that have been floating around during the last 20 years. Compared to the restoration of films of that same period it just doesn't compare.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit slow at times, but classic Hitchock.
Review: A bit slow at times, but classic Hitchock. Summary:
L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries (James Stewart) is a photographer who broke his leg getting an exciting picture for his magazine. As a result he has been stuck in his apartment for 7 weeks getting better and has one more to go. He is dating Lisa Carol Fremont (Grace Kelly) but he doesn't want to marry her and he doesn't want to change his life to adapt to what married life would be like. When Jeff believes his neighbor, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), killed his wife, Mrs. Anna Thorwald (Irene Winston), he begins an intrigue that sucks in Lisa and several others and only ends when Lars comes into Jeff's apartment and nearly kills him. My Comments:
Either it is me aging or Hitchcock aging, but Hitchcock seems to get better the older I get. The movie was fun to watch and the acting was pretty good. Jeff's nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) was also a lot of fun, offering the wisdom of a wise woman's life in the time it takes to rub a man's back. The set was brilliant (the entire story takes place in an a group of apartments). And, perhaps best of all were the relationships that played out between the cast members. There was love and loss and loneliness and rejection. It was all there. I never really felt any tension in the movie, but then again that could have been because there were moments when it was slow and I just didn't identify all that well with the characters. But the film was very enjoyable nonetheless. Great Hitchcock. Also, the DVD special features were very informative and included interviews with most of the cast.
Rating:
Summary: Angy Reviewer Needs a Slap in the Face
Review: Hey, Angry Reviewer, do you know why Halle Berry isn't in the film? Because it was made in the 1940s. And do you even know what overrated means? Of course not! So shut your face and learn how to give a good review because Halle Berry won't be in every film.
Rating:
Summary: Look Out Your Window
Review: Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Rear Window has a simple plot, an injured photographer becomes intrigued and enraptured with the comings and goings of his neighbors across the courtyard in his apartment complex and becomes convinced that one neighbor has murdered his wife. The film takes place exclusively in the photographer's apartment and we merely can see into the neighbor's apartments through their windows. The photographer, Jeff Jeffries, is played by James Stewart and due his broken leg is confined to his apartment and due to the inherent voyeuristic nature of his trade, he trains his eye on the apartments across the courtyard. Grace Kelly plays his girlfriend, Lisa, and she is at first disinterested and disapproving of his actions, but she too is soon drawn into the human drama. Thelma Ritter plays her usual sarcastic role as a visiting nurse who is sucked into Jeff's human drama. Mr. Hitchcock does a brilliant job of making Jeff's voyeurism at first seem comically, a fun way to kill idle time, then slowly building upon a suspicion that grows and grows until it reaches a scary and thrilling conclusion. The fact that he only allows the audience to see things from the perspective of Jeff's apartment and never allows into the apartments across the courtyard is a brilliant piece of direction and adds to the tension. Rear Window was the second of the films that Mr. Hitchcock and Mr. Stewart made together and it was rousing success after the disappointment both felt after their first collaboration, 1948's Rope.
Rating:
Summary: Great Film! But DVD version is too dark and not full frame.
Review: The greastest suspenseful film made. I love this film on VHS video. I was a bit disappointed with the DVD version. Although it is restored and remastered, I thought this version had a darker film coating on it and full frame was not available.
Rating:
Summary: Classic mystery/suspense film
Review: This 1954 film was directed by the great master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock and stars James Stewart as Jeff, and Grace Kelly as Lisa. Jeff is a photojournalist with a broken leg after an accident on one of his previous news assignment. He is bound to his wheelchair in his small apartment over looking a wide variety of people with different stories, and situations. He's bored so he observes them, but when one of them shows suspicious behavior, he believes there has been a murder. He becomes obsessed and watches day and night, even getting his friends involved. Since they have no evidence, they must investigate themselves. This is another masterpiece from Hitchcock, with many layers, and stories going on. The direction is great, and the film ends very suspenseful. The acting is perfect by both leads. The film is great as entertainment, but also you can have a variety of interpretations of what Hitchcock really meant with this film. This is a classic and should be in every film lovers DVD collection. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Rear Window
Review: It's really exciting and cool. I think everyone should see this movie at least once ~ I've seen like five times. This is my dad's favorite movie and he never gets sick of it. That saying a lot since this is the dad that doesn't let me watch more than an hour of TV a day.
Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock's finest?
Review: 'Rear Window' has long been revered not only as a classic Hitchcock film but a classic in its own right, so I was keen to watch it. When I did so I was more than pleasantly surprised that something that is now quite old could be enjoyable as well as intelligent and just as relevant today (maybe even more so) than it was in its time. The story by now is famous, with James Stewart playing Jeffries, a photographer who is wheelchair-bound in his appartment and begins spying on his neighbours to pass time. Interesting as his neighbours may be, one man in particular catches his eye when his wife mysteriously disappears and Jeffries convinces himself that she has been murdered by her husband. Whilst on the surface this may appear to be a routine, but masterfully crafted thriller, it is actually a lot more than that, questioning the voyeurism inherent in everyone, our wish to see something new, exciting and shocking. The camerawork creates an incredibly tense atmosphere, with everything shown from Jeffries' perspective from the window of his appartment. As the camera pans slowly over the other flats we see tiny images of people boxed up in their windows, their private lives on display and us staring in at them; whether it be a couple arguing, a lonely woman or a sexy ballet dancer it's made very clear that it isn't just the character who's the voyeur but the audience as well. The movie also questions how we view our lives as reflections of other people's, such as when Jeffries reluctantly talks of committment to his girlfriend (Kelly) whilst looking on at a husband and wife shouting at one another. All this and it's acted to perfection by Stewart, Kelly and a highly accomplished supporting cast. There's even a spot of dark humour here, especially in the character of the nurse who views it all with a ghoulish yet comic intensity. In 'Rear Window' Hitchcock had created that rarity - a Hollywood film that was not only popular at the time, but that continues to be so today, a movie that is enjoyable merely on the basis of the story yet is intelligent and insightful as well.
Rating:
Summary: A unique spin on suspense
Review: This is one of my favorite Hitchcock films. Part of its appeal lies in its originality and simplicity. Jeff (played by James Stewart) is an injured photographer who's confined to a wheelchair in his apartment. The story revolves around the things he sees from his window as he's spying on his neighbors. Binoculars in hand, Jeff looks at what everyone's doing and knows a lot about each of their lives. He begins to suspect his neighbor of murdering his wife, and a number of things happen that seem to support that hypothesis. He investigates, and gets both his girlfriend (played by Grace Kelly) and his nurse to help him. Directing was an art for Hitchcock, and his ability is showcased marvelously in this thriller. Using just the apartment building for a set, Hitchcock creates an aura of suspense and uncertainty that will keep you involved throughout the movie. The acting in this movie is superb, and its story is interesting, all the way to the final climax involving the helpless Jeff. This is a movie that definitely deserves to be on AFIs top 100 list.
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