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Rear Window (Collector's Edition) (1954)

James Stewart , Grace Kelly , Alfred Hitchcock  |  PG |  DVD
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (486 customer reviews)


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Product Details

  • Actors: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Wendell Corey
  • Directors: Alfred Hitchcock
  • Format: Color, Collector's Edition, Widescreen
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: English, Spanish
  • Dubbed: French
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
  • Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: March 6, 2001
  • Run Time: 115 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (486 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00003CXC7
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,488 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Learn more about "Rear Window (Collector's Edition)" on IMDb

Special Features

  • "Rear Window Ethics: Remembering and Restoring a Hitchcock Classic" (2000, 55 min.)
  • Featurette: A Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes
  • Production photographs
  • Re-release trailer narrated by James Stewart
  • DVD-ROM features include the original script

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window is both confined and multileveled: both its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbors. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behavior glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to what may be a murder.

Photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is, in fact, a voyeur by trade, a professional photographer sidelined by an accident while on assignment. His immersion in the human drama (and comedy) visible from his window is a by-product of boredom, underlined by the disapproval of his girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), and a wisecracking visiting nurse (Thelma Ritter). Yet when the invalid wife of Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) disappears, Jeff enlists the two women to help him to determine whether she's really left town, as Thorwald insists, or been murdered.

Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto convincingly argues that the crime at the center of this mystery is the MacGuffin--a mere pretext--in a film that's more interested in the implications of Jeff's sentinel perspective. We actually learn more about the lives of the other neighbors (given generic names by Jeff, even as he's drawn into their lives) he, and we, watch undetected than we do the putative murderer and his victim. Jeff's evident fear of intimacy and commitment with the elegant, adoring Lisa provides the other vital thread to the script, one woven not only into the couple's own relationship, but reflected and even commented upon through the various neighbors' lives.

At minimum, Hitchcock's skill at making us accomplices to Jeff's spying, coupled with an ingenious escalation of suspense as the teasingly vague evidence coalesces into ominous proof, deliver a superb thriller spiked with droll humor, right up to its nail-biting, nightmarish climax. At deeper levels, however, Rear Window plumbs issues of moral responsibility and emotional honesty, while offering further proof (were any needed) of the director's brilliance as a visual storyteller. --Sam Sutherland

Product Description

None of Hitchcock's films has ever given a clearer view of his genius for suspense than Rear Window. When professional photographer J.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg, he becomes obsessed with watching the private dramas of his neighbors play out across the courtyard. When he suspects a salesman may have murdered his nagging wife, Jeffries enlists the help of his glamorous socialite girlfriend (Grace Kelly) to investigate the highly suspicious chain of events… Events that ultimately lead to one of the most memorable and gripping endings in all of film history.

Customer Reviews

I highly recommend watching this movie with someone special. PHebert  |  113 reviewers made a similar statement
The direction is great, and the film ends very suspenseful. Zev Bazarov  |  67 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
109 of 112 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Rear Window---Newly Restored DVD!!!! February 20, 2001
Format:DVD
The last few years have seen some classic films that have been given back their old lustre via restoration, including such films as, My Fair Lady, Vertigo, Lawrence Of Arabia to name just a few. These films as well as this film have been restored by the restoration mavericks Robert A. Harris, and James Katz.

I must say after seeing an advance copy of this film that Rear Window looks incredible, especially compared to the Laser Disc copy I have as well as the poor copies that have been showing up on television and VHS over the years.

The colors are vibrant, in particular the reds which don't give a hint of bleeding into the frame, and the image looks I imagine as close to the original as possible given the fact that this film is almost fifty years old now.

The aspect ratio is 1.66:1 which is the proper framing for this film, the sound is the original mono soundtrack and has been scrubbed up to remove any audio imperfections that have built up over the years.

Also included on this disc is a 55 minute documentary titled, Rear Window Ethics:Remembering a Hitchock Classic which is quite enjoyable.

There is a still frame gallery, a shorter documentary with the screenwriter John Michael Hayes, as well as the standard fare of biographies, filomgraphies etc.

All in all a quite impressive package and should be of interest to any Hitchcock fan as well as Cinema fans in general.

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56 of 61 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars the ultimate Hitchcock classic October 20, 2001
Format:DVD
The ultimate Hitchcock classic, REAR WINDOW gives us a glimpse into the mind of Alfred Hitchcock, and in turn Hitchcock turns the mirror on us and forces us to admit our darkest desire...to be voyeurs.

That is exactly what Jeffries is. Jeffries (James Stewart) is a wheelchair-bound photographer who spends his time cooped up in his apartment, peeping in on the neighbours across the courtyard. He comes up with "names" for them; Miss Torso the ballerina; Miss Lonely-Hearts; The Newly-Weds and so on. His only contact with the outside world is his girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) and his wisecracking nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter).

Unknowlingly witnessing the murder of Mrs Thorwald, he, along with Lisa and Stella, set out to expose the truth about Mr Thorwald (Raymond Burr) and uncover the mystery of her quick disapperance.

A beautifully-restored print by James Katz and Robert Harris (also responsible for the beautiful new renderings of MY FAIR LADY and VERTIGO), is the highlight of this DVD. The original negative was severely faded and turning green when Universal aqquired the entire Paramount film library. Color-correction and shadow detail are now back to their original state, as is the soundtrack featuring Franz Waxman's sparkling score.

The ULTIMATE Hitchcock thriller, with more than a touch of romance and comedy.

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56 of 63 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Hitchcock's Classy Voyeurism Thriller... March 17, 2000
Format:DVD
One of the joys of Alfred Hitchcock films is his ability to take social taboos, present them in an enticing context, throw in major stars we know and love to perform them, and thus make abhorrent behavior seem attractive! 'Vertigo' is the best-known example of this Hitchcock trait ('Psycho' also comes to mind), but 'Rear Window' is the most fun to watch, because of the appealing combination of James Stewart and Grace Kelly!

Stewart is a photographer, laid-up while recuperating from an accident (cleverly shown through photographs in his studio), who, out of boredom, begins spying on his neighbors. Jimmy Stewart a 'Peeping Tom'? Only Hitchcock could get away with this!

Of course, Kelly, as his high fashion model girlfriend, and Thelma Ritter (who is fabulous as his nurse), are appalled by Stewart's behavior, but are drawn into voyeurism by Stewart's devotion to it, particularly after he witnesses an apparent murder (committed by Raymond Burr, in one of the most wonderfully EVIL roles of his career!)

The film takes on a cat-and-mouse intensity, as Stewart attempts to prove Burr's guilt to his skeptical policeman buddy (nicely played by Wendell Corey). To add a touch of sexual foreplay to the proceedings, Kelly models a variety of '50s evening and nightwear, while teasing the injury-constrained Stewart ("Previews of Coming Attractions", she purrs). All this leads up to a fabulous, claustrophobic finale, with camera flashes, and a twist ending that is pure Hitchcock magic!

The restoration of the film gives the movie a clarity and modern 'feel' that viewers will love!

Watch this 'new and improved' edition, and see why 'Rear Window' is one of the most popular Hitchcock films!

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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By Sanpete
Format:DVD
Rear Window is considered by many Alfred Hitchcock's best movie. The story suited him well. A man confined to a wheelchair, watching things that may be innocent or murderous, a beautiful woman out of her element, in danger, with gradually building suspense that takes a potentially fatal turn as we watch helplessly with our immobilized protagonist, and a cliffhanger climax. The movie has been analyzed by very smart people looking for much more than that, deeper meanings and allusions, and some of their ideas are true, and some are fun. But it's the basic story elements, sharp dialogue, fine acting and the direction of a master that make it a great movie.

The immobilized man is "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart), a Life Magazine photographer who's laid up in his New York City apartment with a broken leg. Accustomed to an active life of adventure and world traveling, he's reduced to passing his time using binoculars and a telephoto lens to spy on the small world of neighbors across a small courtyard from his rear window. The beautiful woman is his girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly), a high society woman whom he is avoiding marrying on the excuse that she isn't cut out for his rambling life of action and danger, and he doesn't want to settle down. As events across the way take a potentially sinister turn, the tables are turned as Lisa shows her grit in risky investigations while Jeff must remain passive. Raymond Burr (of Perry Mason fame) plays the suspect neighbor who may or may not have killed someone. Thelma Ritter is Jeff's house-call nurse who also gets involved.

Most of the film is presented from Jeff's powerless perspective, giving the suspense an extra edge.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Oh love this movie
This is one...if you like Hitchcock, you have to see this. Suspenseful and scarey. It will have you leaning forward where you sit. I love James Stewart. Love it!
Published 1 day ago by Helen
5.0 out of 5 stars Movie
One of the most interesting movies i have seen. All takes place in a small area. I have wathced it more than once but the ending im gripping my arm rests each time.
Published 10 days ago by David N. Carlson
5.0 out of 5 stars Rear Window (1954)
Starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr with director Alfred Hitchcock, this is a superb film that takes place in a very limited space. L.B. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Four Star Film Fan
4.0 out of 5 stars Not my thing but it is a classic
Had to watch it for class, not really my kind of movie though. It is a good film and a classic but it is rather slow, I like faster pace movies.
Published 23 days ago by cutenerd
4.0 out of 5 stars Good movie
How can you not love Jimmy Stewart... and especially in a Hitchcock thriller... Seriously, good movie. Read more
Published 25 days ago by Jennifer Snow
5.0 out of 5 stars Rear Window Movie Review
Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Rear Window has been called a masterpiece but does it deserve that distinction? If so then why? In answer to the first question, in a word, yes. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Movie Geek 1991
5.0 out of 5 stars Rear Window
Brillant storey of a invalid confined to his apartment and to avoid borement sits in his wheelchair using his photolens to view his neighbors through their windows. Read more
Published 28 days ago by paco
5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling movie! Brilliant writing and cast!
It doesn't get much better than this! James Stewart and Grace Kelly give excellent performances!
Alfred Hitchcock keeps you at the edge of your seat! Bravo!!
Published 1 month ago by Karen
5.0 out of 5 stars Movie
My wife doesn't like many movies , however this is one of her favorites. She just watched it for the four time yesterday.
Published 1 month ago by David U. Edens
5.0 out of 5 stars A Top Film
This was one of Hitchcock's best. Not only was it well performed and directed, but introduced some interesting themes to supplement the basic suspense.
Published 1 month ago by Bruce Pike
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Any News on a Blu-ray Release for Rear Window????
yeah it's out now on the Masterpiece Collection
Jan 8, 2013 by Julian Pope |  See all 4 posts
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