THE IMDB TOP 50 CHALLENGE #24 Rear Window

With Vertigo recently topping Sight & Sound’s poll of the greatest movies ever made, Alfred Hitchcock is back in the news. Along with Christopher Nolan, he’s the most represented director in the IMDB Top 50 and, to my great pleasure, Rear Window is his highest placed film.

Starring the brilliant James Stewart and beautiful Grace Kelly, Rear Window is set in a sweltering New York housing block. Stewart is housebound photographer LB Jeffries – a prisoner in his own home after an incident with a racing car left his left leg encased in plaster all the way up to his hip. He spends his days being massaged by an acerbic insurance company nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), waiting on visits from his girlfriend Lisa (Kelly) and spying on his neighbours.

Like many of Hitchcock’s films, Rear Window is hugely voyeuristic. Initially, Jeffries’ preoccupation with his neighbours is light-hearted in its nature as he smiles wryly at their foibles and eccentricities: a couple who sleep on their balcony to avoid the building’s oppressive heat, a dancer who wiggles around her apartment in her underwear and a small dog enters and exits the block via a basket lifted and lowered by his owners.

Gradually, though, Jeffries’ interest becomes unhealthy – an obsession which coincides with some darker episodes in the building. Chief among these is the disappearance of Mrs Thorwald from the opposite apartment. Her husband’s increasingly bizarre behaviour and collection of saws hint at the disposing of her body – and Jeffries is duly worried.

The women in Jeffries’ life attempt to inject some commonsense into proceedings, with nurse Stella stealing all the best lines in her cynical world-weary attempts to becalm him. Grace Kelly is a picture of poise and elegance – a fine contrast with Stewart’s portrayal of the increasingly irritable and frustrated photographer. Eventually, however, all three become exactly the kind of peeping toms Stella was so quick to criticise.

Hitchcock treats the audience as unwanted interlopers, too. The film’s claustrophobic feeling comes from its uneasy proximity to the characters. Every scene is set in Jeffries small apartment or is shown from his point-of view – and as the film progresses this viewpoint is increasingly supplied via a camera with a huge zoom lense which Jeffries peers through. Like a cinema audience, Jeffries sits in the dark peering into other people’s lives.

Hitchcock was, of course, a master of suspense. Here, that tension is created through mystery – it’s unclear whether Thorwald really did kill his wife until the very end of proceedings. As a result, we share Jeffries’ suspicions and frustrations – not least in an almost unbearably tense scene which sees Lisa enter Thorwald’s apartment to gather evidence whilst he’s out, only for the ‘killer’ to return unexpectedly. Jeffries squirms impotently, able to see everything but unable to influence anything.

The film ends with a brilliant twist of stunningly subtle simplicity which serves to hammer home a point which Hitchcock knew only too well: less is more.

Check out this amazing time lapse compilation of what LB Jeffries sees as he peers through his window - it's stunning!

THE IMDB TOP 50 CHALLENGE #31 It's A Wonderful Life

Once upon a time, Red Dwarf was the funniest television programme ever made. For those not familiar with it, it was a space sci-fi comedy set on a mining ship. The crew were a pedantic hologram, an anally retentive cyborg, a self-obsessed mutant cat and the last known human in the universe: Lister. Although Red Dwarf has dated terribly, one thing which still resonates is Lister’s dream for the future. As the last man standing, what he wanted was simple: to live with his loving family in Bedford Falls. And who wouldn’t want that? For Bedford Falls is the setting for It’s A Wonderful Life – the most life-affirming, warmly nostalgic film ever made.

George Bailey (the amazing James Stewart) is the unsung hero of Bedford Falls. His entire life has been spent putting others first: risking his life to save his brother’s and staying home to manage the Bailey Savings & Loan company following the death of his father. Having sacrificed his dreams to travel and study, he has sacrificed material wealth in favour of friends and family.

Tragically for George, local villain Potter (Lionel Barrymore) is intent on acquiring the Savings & Loan – the only institution in Bedford Falls he doesn’t own. George, of course, is loathe to concede his community-centred business – so Potter sets out to ruin it and force George to give it up. On Christmas Eve, facing ruin and having let down so many people, George is left broken and desperate.

Contemplating suicide on a bridge, he is visited by his loveable guardian angel: the bumbling Clarence (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George how his community would have suffered if he had never been born: a nightmarish alternate reality in which his family have suffered bereavements and insanity and his beloved wife Mary (Donna Reed) is a lonely, childless spinster. There are obvious parallels to be drawn with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol as supernatural beings visit the living to convince them of the value of life – and the comparisons are entirely fair and justified.

Like A Christmas Carol, It’s A Wonderful Life has a darkness at its heart which provides a key contrast with the lighter, warmer denouement. George’s descent into despair is brilliantly played by Stewart, casting aside the wholesome image he had previously fostered, before returning again t the amiable and warm persona he had previously enjoyed. Always a witty and affable screen presence, It’s A Wonderful Life is perhaps the greatest demonstration of Stewart’s range and skill.

For some, It’s A Wonderful Life is too saccharine sweet. Presumably those people have had their hearts removed and replaced with swinging bricks. It’s a joyful celebration of family, community and the individual, providing proof that no matter how insignificant you believe yourself, you mean something to somebody. George’s plight and his redemption prove that humanity and goodness are what really matters – a message which society needs reminding of at Christmas time more than ever. It’s a wonderful film.

THE IMDB TOP 50 CHALLENGE #49 Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo

Released in 1958, Vertigo received a lukewarm reception from the critics. The fact that it is now regarded as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpieces reflects the content of the film: the focus on obsessive voyeurism and psychological illness seems more relevant than ever before.

Opening with a rooftop chase, policeman Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) sees a colleague fall to his death. Racked with guilt and unable to control his vertigo, Scottie takes early retirement from the force. But when a wealthy friend asks him to keep an eye on his wife’s suspicious behaviour, Scottie decides to take the job.

She is Madelaine (Kim Novak), a beautiful blonde obsessed with her great-grandmother, Carlotta Valdes – a woman who killed herself exactly a century ago. Madelaine’s obsession seems to see her adopting parts of Carlotta’s personality and appearnce – as well repeatedly visiting her grave and suicide spot.

As Scottie trails Madeliane around San Francisco he becomes increasingly fascinated by her – eventually saving her life after she takes a plunge into the bay. Sadly, Scottie’s affection for Madeliane cannot last. But when he comes across a similar looking shop girl, his own obsession grips him and Scottie attempts to reinvent her in the image of his lost love.

It’s a brilliant performance from Stewart, who in the middle years of his career casts aside the genial charm which made characters like George Bailey so warm and sympathetic. Here, he’s slightly creepy and, at times, downright cruel. For a man who worried constantly about his relevance and employability as an actor, it’s a brave turn which risked alienating his fans. Of course, it did no such thing and he remains one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars – and he’ll crop up repeatedly in the IMDB Top 50 Challenge.

The real star of the show, however, is Hitchcock’s direction. Although elements of the film look slightly dated now, back then they were innovative and original – it’s impossible not to admire them. Special effects such as the vertigo-inducing zoom shot which opens the film have become commonplace and the surreal animation was years before its time.

Bang in the middle of his most impressive period, Vertigo demonstrates Hitchcock’s absolute confidence in his own abilty. Despite being deliberately slow and occasionally repetitive, the film is never dull. Instead, the pace and content reflect the growing obsessions of the main protagonists, drawing the audience deeper into the action and creating a cloying sense of claustrophobia.

Having first seen Vertigo as a film student over ten years ago, i was surprised that the film seems to have improved in the interim. The passage of time, an increase in my maturity levels and an appreciation of the subtleties of Hitchcock’s craft has ensured that my second viewing was an infinitely more rewarding experience than the first. Recommended.