Cast and Crew:  Cornell Woolrich (Short Story); Edith Head (Costumes); Franz Waxman (Score); Thelma Ritter, Gig Young

What It’s About:   Photographer L. B. “Jeff” Jefferies (James Stewart) is laid up in his apartment with a broken leg.  With nothing better to do, he starts watching his neighbors, visible from his back window that looks out in the courtyard of his apartment complex.  What starts as simple voyeurism becomes much more when he’s convinced that one of his neighbors (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife…but how far will Jeff go (and how much will he risk his girlfriend Lisa Freemont’s (Grace Kelly) life) to get the truth?

Why Watch it Today?:  James Stewart was born today in 1908.  Rear Window is my second favorite of Stewart’s collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (after Vertigo which we featured last year), a study of voyeurism that makes excellent use of the lead’s confined space and limited ability to create incredible suspense.

Where to Get It: Amazon, iTunes, XFINITY or Vudu; Netflix (rental only); your local library

Other Choices:  Rope