PROJECT TITLE: Rear Window (1954)
GENRE: Thriller/Suspense
1. Opening Image (1): The movie opens with the view from inside the house of a window of an apartment complex. As the name of the movie says rear window, the audience can infer that it the view from this apartment of the society that forms the premises of the story. One can guess that is from this window that the protagonist might see something that builds into the story of the movie.
2. Theme Stated (5): Roughly five minutes into the movie, Jeffers (James Stewart) says on phone to his editor “Six weeks sitting in a two-room apartment with nothing to do but look out the window at the neighbors” This is indeed the theme of the movie where the photographer protagonist is bound to sit besides the window and observe (or spy on) his neighbors. Later when Jeffers’ nurse Stella walks in and declares how she can sense trouble due the him sitting by the window and seeing things he shouldn’t see, the idea that our hero might end up in trouble due to spying on others is re-strengthened.
3. Set-Up (1-10): During this phone conversation itself, the set-up of the movie is presented. Our hero James Stewart discusses how he wants to get this “swamp of boredom” or otherwise the editor might lose him forever as he might end up getting married and have a nagging wife. The camera then rolls to a quarrel between a husband and a wife across his window. It is not clear then, but this fight does become central event in this thriller. Put very casually on the screen, but this is indeed the calm before the storm.
4. Catalyst (12): The catalyst of the movie is when Jeffers hears a woman scream. Then following which, he sees his salesman neighbor, the man who was quarrelling with his wife, leave home at about 2 in the night, alone and in the rains. He does this coming and going thing 2 more times in the course of the night. The following morning too he observes strange behavior and along with the absence of his wife, raises Jeffers’ suspicion and he wants to know what has happened.
5. Debate (12-25): The debate is when Jeffers and Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) discuss the disappearance of the wife. Lisa argues how fair is it to snoop on other people’s lives with binoculars and make up wild theories on actions of others. Jeffers defends himself by saying that all he wants to know is why the salesman’s wife is not to be seen, when earlier everyone in the apartment could see the couple fighting the whole day. Jeffers also points out why the salesman was moving around with ropes, saw and knives.
6. Break into Two (25): The debate ends in the following sequence when Lisa watches the salesman roll up the mattress and pack a heavy box tightly. This is where Lisa too turns suspicious of the actions of the salesman and asks James to narrate everything he saw. This is the point of no return, and from here the two must investigate further into the actions of the salesman.
7. B Story (30): The B story is indeed the love story of Jeffers (Stewart) and Lisa (Grace Kelly). The love story revolve around the character of Grace loving James intensely, but him not wanting to proceed further as he thinks they are not a good match. Jeffers thinks Lisa is too good for him and will not fit into his lifestyle.
8. Fun and Games (30-55): The fun and games begins with Jeffers and Lisa beginning their investigation. Jeffers consults Doyle, his detective friend and his nurse Stella too as they form an opinion that the salesman did indeed murder his wife.
9. Midpoint (55): Follows with the conversation between Jeffers and Doyle. Here Doyle says that Jeffers thinking of the neighbor murdering his wife is incorrect. Doyle carried out a small investigation and found that the wife had left the city and had two witnesses. The possibility of him searching the apartment based on Jeffers feelings is ruled out. Doyle reads out the telegram stating that the salesman’s wife had received the trunk that he had sent, thus suggesting that the wife was indeed alive and left the city.
10. Bad Guys Close In (55-75): Jeffers interest in the case is renewed when Lisa says that the women don’t leave their jewelry behind when they go on a trip. This comes from Jeffers seeing the salesman pack his wife’s handbag in the luggage before he starts to leave. This leads Jeffers and Lisa to conclude that the woman that left the house and boarded the train was not Mrs. Thorwald (Salesman’s wife). Doyle refutes this intuition and claims that the trunk had woman’s clothes and was picked up by Mrs. Thorwald in Merritsville.
11. All Is Lost (75): The conclusion from Doyle as the salesman not being a murderer marks the point where the audience and the protagonist himself are made to believe that there was no murder.
12. Dark Night of the Soul (75-85): Jeffers then ponders over the ethics involved in watching another man through a lens and prove that he might have not done anything wrong. Jeff and Lisa thick over how ethical is it to invade any other person’s privacy.
13. Break into Three (85): The idea to investigate the plants which the dog sniffs and digs at consistently and due to which Jeff, Lisa and Stella think it ended up being killed.
14. Finale (85-110): The sequence of events where Lisa manages to get an evidence of the wedding ring and how they prove to the police that Lars Thorwald did in fact murder his wife, chop her into pieces and planned to skip town.
15. Final Image (110): The final image shows the happy ending. The lonely neighbors meet each other. Jeff has now broken both legs and has an even longer time to spend by the rear window with Lisa by her side.
