Product Details

• Actors: James Stewart, Grace Kelley
• Directors: Alfred Hitchcock
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount Pictures
• VHS Release Date: March 6, 2001
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (329 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000056PWV
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #679 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Video > Mystery & Suspense > Mystery & Suspense Masters
  #2 in	Video > Classics > Mystery & Suspense
  #8 in	Video > Mystery & Suspense > Mystery

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rear Window---Newly Restored DVD!!!!, February 20, 2001

By	G. Stanford "gregory__scott" (Mesquite,TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Rear Window (Collector's Edition) (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.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the ultimate Hitchcock classic, October 20, 2001

By	Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Rear Window (Collector's Edition) (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.

42 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC HITCHCOCK THRILLER..., April 6, 2003

By	Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This is a superlative film of suspense. It is a tribute to the direction of Alfred Hitchcock that one is never bored watching this film, though it entirely takes place within the confines of a claustrophobic New York Greenwich Village apartment, the windows of the neighbors across the way, and a courtyard that separates the buildings.

Professional photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (Jimmy Stewart) is recovering from an accident that occurred while on assignment. Encased in a cast covering his left leg and hip, Jeff is pretty much immobilized and temporarily confined to a wheel chair. Despite regular visits by his nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), and his beautiful, sophisticated girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), Jeff is chafing at his confinement. Bored stiff, he does what he does best. He peers at those around him from his window. Jeff finds the lives of his neighbors both immensely interesting and amusing. He watches them through their windows and in the courtyard, enhancing his experience with binoculars and the zoom lens of his camera. Jeff draws inferences and conclusions about them, based upon his own experiences with human behavior.

This interest intensifies and takes a strange turn, when he believes one of them, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), may have committed a grisly murder, killing off his invalid wife, Anna. Though Jeff never actually sees the murder, what he does see is its aftermath and some peculiar behavior that puzzles him. Putting two and two together, he becomes absolutely convinced that his neighbor across the way has done away with his invalid wife. Jeff then informally involves his friend, Lt. Thomas Doyle (Wendell Corey) of the New York City Police Department, who initially scoffs at Jeff's assessment, though he does a cursory check . With Lisa and Stella also becoming fascinated by the strange behavior of Lars Thorwald, their interest and amateur sleuthing propels the film to an exciting climax.

Jimmy Stewart is terrific as the housebound voyeur, drawing the viewer in with him. One finds oneself peering along with him into the lives of those around him. Grace Kelly is stunningly beautiful as Jeff's girlfriend Lisa, with whom Jeff is finding it difficult to make a commitment. It is interesting that as Jeff gets more intimately engrossed in his neighbors' affairs, his intimacy with Lisa seems to grow, drawing them closer together. Thelma Ritter is funny and sassy as the tough talking, no nonsense nurse. Raymond Burr, looking eerily as he would half a century later, is well cast as the neighbor whose wife got on his nerves. Wendell Corey is very good as the congenial, though jaded, detective.

All in all, this is a terrific film that clearly shows the mastery and deft direction of the legendary Hitchcock. With a well written script and a stellar cast, this is a film that is well worth having in one's personal collection. Bravo!