A Study in Visual Story Telling: Rear Window

Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, On the Waterfront, The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca: What do they all have in common? They're the top 5 films on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list. Alfred Hictchock, however, has but one film on this list: Psycho, and it's not even in the top 50. Let's be honest, though. The quote, "A boy's best friend is his mother," is not the most memorable moment of the film.

No, with Hitchcock, the moments that we just can't shake are always visual, like Cary Grant being chased down in the middle of field by a rogue crop duster, or Janet Leigh being stabbed over and over again while in the shower, or a convalesced Jimmy Stewart spying on his neighbors with a telephoto lens.

And it makes sense. Hitchcock got his start in silent pictures. Dialogue in many of his films, especially Rear Window, often served the simple purpose of conveying to the audience what pictures alone could not. The screenplay for Rear Window, written by John Michael Hayes, is such a slave to this notion, that the first 4 pages have no dialogue whatsoever. And it is these first 4 pages that we will be focusing on because, without a single scrap of dialogue, Hitchcock and Hayes are able to convey theme, tone, and character.

Rear Window examines America's obsession with voyeurism, or our need to peer into the private lives of others and maybe, see something we shouldn't. A valid theme, since we're going to be paying money to sit in a dark room to watch a day in the life of our protagonist. Hayes sets out to convey this with the first words he writes.

We begin the screenplay looking out of the window of Jeff's second story apartment, a safe vantage point where we can see just about everything that goes on in the neighborhood without ourselves being seen.  The screenplay could have began outside and showed Jeff, sitting in his wheelchair, spying on everyone. After all, he is the protagonist, and the movie is about snooping. But we would lose the theme because Hitchcock and Hayes don't want to just examine Jeff's need to peep, but ours. So we have to be implicated in the act; we need to feel the rush Jeff feels. If we judge Jeff for doing what he is doing, we also judge ourselves.

But it's not only what we see in these first four pages, but what remains just out of sight that establishes this theme of voyeurism.

First of all, this was filmed in the 50's. The Hays Code is still the standard, which means on-screen nudity is a no - no. So as you're reading (and watching this) you can't believe what you're privy to, a beautiful, full figured, naked woman. Secondly, Hayes tells us she's naked before telling us what we can't see, thusly creating the thrill on the page that we're going to get on the screen. And you know what? We kind of liked it, not because we're perverts, but because we almost saw something that we weren't supposed to. We've been implicated.

The tone is set by the theme, really. Voyeurism is risky business. We know what curiosity did to the cat, and it involved jail time. But that's only part of it. Since the commentary is directed toward the audience, this film has to feel real. It has to be set in real life, which has a tone all of its own. Funny, unexpected things happen in real life. Serious events often precede comical ones, and vice versa. Hayes establishes this by catching us off guard.

Isn't life like this though? Isn't this where the humor comes from? From the unexpected nature of it all? It's important to note that this action description comes directly before we see the dancer naked in her kitchen. So we're chuckling at the silliness of this scene and then, hello, what's this? We have an immediate shift in emotion from amusement to sobriety. This emotional shift will occur numerous times throughout the screenplay, sustaining the tone set in these first four pages.

Again, the theme informs everything in this screenplay, even our protagonist, L.B. Jefferies, known affectionately as Jeff. Before we say anymore about him, let's see what Hayes has to say.

If you've seen the film, you might say after reading this, that James Stewart was ill-cast for this role. He was pushing 50 when he filmed Rear Window, and he looks every bit of it. But when you put it in context, it could've only been him. Jimmy Stewart as a persona embodies all of these characteristics. The only way this film works is if we as an audience trust this guy's motives for peeping in on his neighbors.

The visuals in the story also tell us that he's stuck near this window because he is immobile. But how did he get this cast that he's wearing? Hayes and Hitchcock decide to show us rather than tell.

We learn through action description that Jeff is a photographer, most likely for a newspaper, who may or may not know how to take care of a camera. Then we realize that it's not his camera he doesn't know how to care for, it's his well-being. After this passage, the action description takes us through a very short tour of Jeff's home, we see that there are more photographs. Photos that couldn't be taken unless the photographer was dangerously close to their violent subject material. And all of them have L.B. Jefferies's signature.

So here we have it. Without any dialogue we learn that Jeff is by trade a voyeur. Not only that, but he tends to get involved with the subjects he's observing--or at least as close as he possible can. Foreshadowing, anyone?

To an untrained eye, it would seem that Hitchcock and Hayes are taking their time getting into the film. In actuality, though, they're being very shrewd with the composition of every shot. Everything means something, almost always multiple somethings. Nothing goes to waste, not even dialogue.

~ Danniel Dean

For show times to Rear Window see our previous post: Jimmy Stewart at the Palace or jump straight to the Louisville Palace's official web page.

Author's note: When referring to the writers I was conflicted on how to address them, since I know that working as Hitchcock's writer is a very collaborative process. For more on the collaboration between Hayes and Hitchcock check out this blog: Alfred Hitchcock’s Collaborators: John Michael Hayes