Rear Window

Selected by Lee Friedlander

A Cornell Woolrich story inspired one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest thrillers, a witty mystery that implicates its audience as voyeurs. When photojournalist James Stewart is wheelchair bound due to an injury, his boredom inspires him to investigate his neighbors with the help of his gorgeous girlfriend (Grace Kelly at her most enchanting), cynical cop friend (Wendell Corey), and wisecracking masseuse (the irreplaceable Thelma Ritter). Nominated for Hitchcock’s direction, John Michael Hayes’s sparkling screenplay, Robert Burks’s color cinematography, and its sound recording, it also features a marvel of Golden Age production design—a multi-story apartment courtyard built on a Paramount soundstage.

Part of the Fraenkel Film Festival