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Rated PG
This 1954 film, directed by master of suspense Alfred Hitchock, stars James Stewart as wheelchair-bound photojournalist L.B. Jefferies, Grace Kelly as beautiful socialite Lisa Carol Fremont, the incomparable Thelma Ritter as wise-cracking nurse Stella, and Raymond Burr as suspected murderer Lars Thorwald. To stave of the boredom of being confined to his aparment, Jefferies begins spying on his neighbors in the apartment complex across the courtyard. At first, he is drawn to the everyday drama of their lives but when he suspects that a murder has been committed, his casual peeping turns into a matter of life and death.
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This nail-biting thriller was based on the short story "It Had To Be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich.
Cornell Woolrich was an American novelist and short story writer who was best known for his crime fiction. His work during the 1940s has been considered as good, if not better, than the work of his contemporaries, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The film is a straight forward adaptation, keeping Woolrich's plot structure and fleshing out minor characters who were only hinted at in the short story. Hitchcock's gift for suspense and Woolrich's talent for building a story to a thrilling climax were a perfect match.
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If you like books with suspense, thrills, and clever "whodunit?", check out:
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
One island. Ten strangers. An unseen host who accuses them of murder. When guests begin dropping off one by one, paranoia and terror take over. Christie's novel is considered one of the greatest murder mysteries ever published.
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
This is the stuff that dreams are made of. Sam Spade, a tough San Francisco detective, is investigating the murder of his partner when he finds himself in the middle of a search for the valuable gold statuette. Can Sam convince the police he didn't murder his partner? Can he trust the dame? And who has the falcon?
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
The first of Chandler's novels to feature Detective Philip Marlowe, the embodiment of the hard boiled private investigator. Hit the mean streets of Los Angeles while Marlowe unravels one of the most exciting pulp mysteries of the 20th century.
- The Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald Sobol
The kid detective is a classic for each new generation to enjoy. Read closely because every detail counts as Encyclopedia takes down bullies, con artists, and cheats. Solve the mystery yourself or flip to the back of the book to see how Encyclopedia did it!
Look through the lens at these films of voyeruism and suspected murder:
- Blow-Up (1966)
Another photographer, this time portrayed by David Hemmings, stumbles upon a mystery and must explore whether or not photographs can really reveal truth in this Michelangelo Antonioni film.
- The Conversation (1974)
Tap into this Francis Ford Coppola-directed thriller with Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who has a crisis of conscience when he realizes that he might have stumbled across a murder.
- 1984 (1984)
Moving from watching to being watched, explore this claustrophobia-inducing adaptation of the grim George Orwell novel of a totalitarian future, starring John Hurt and Richard Burton.
- Disturbia (2007)
An updated version of Rear Window starring Shia LaBeouf features the same themes with cooler gadgets. In this adaptation, LaBeouf is a teen living under house arrest who must convince his friends that the murder across the street is not the result of LaBeouf's overactive imagination.
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