Rear Window

How this film uses it

Hitchcock and cinematographer Robert Burks almost never move the camera outside Jefferies's apartment. You see only what Jeff sees, from where he sits. The limit is total. So when the killer comes for Jeff, you are trapped with him inside the same narrow view.

Where to see it

Jeff's entire experience of the murder investigation. He carries out all of it from one fixed spot.

How this film uses it

Hitchcock sets up Jeff's window-watching as an actual movie theater. Jeff looks at a screen of lit windows, and each one holds a different story. You watch Jeff watch. Hitchcock keeps cutting back to Jeff's face, so you are watching a man who is watching. The suggestion is that going to the movies is a form of spying.

Where to see it

Jeff watching Miss Lonelyhearts. The camera catches him watching, then catches us watching him.

How this film uses it

The courtyard holds the Songwriter, Miss Lonelyhearts, the Newlyweds, Miss Torso, the childless couple with the dog and the Thorwalds. Each window is its own story, and each one comments on Jeff and Lisa's relationship. I feel like the courtyard is a carefully designed collection of short stories that also adds up to one argument about marriage and loneliness.

Where to see it

Jeff's survey of the courtyard at the film's opening. The stage is set and all its players are introduced.

How this film uses it

Once you know Thorwald is a murderer, every later scene with Lisa and Thorwald becomes unbearable, especially when she goes into his apartment. You have the information and Lisa does not. That gap in knowledge is where Hitchcock's kind of suspense comes from.

Where to see it

Lisa inside Thorwald's apartment. Jeff watches helplessly as Thorwald returns home.