Generally considered to be one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest thrillers, Rear Window stars Jimmy Stewart as Jeff, a professional photographer confined to his New York apartment for several weeks after an on-the-job accident leaves him with a broken leg. Suffering from tremendous boredom, Jeff begins watching the minor dramas going on in the lives of his neighbors from his rear apartment window. His harmless voyeurism paired with the behavior glimpsed among the various tenants is drolly humorous, though the comic atmosphere takes a turn for the dark when Jeff suspects a neighbor of murdering his wife. So Jeff enlists the help of his elegant, doting girlfriend, Lisa (played by the always luminous Grace Kelly), and his wisecracking nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), to help determine what happened.
A fine suspense story combined with fiery romantic tension between Stewart and Kelly make for great watching, and the numerous sub-plots add up to a story with some very interesting psychological overtones. See Rear Window at Tampa Theatre this Sunday as part of its Summer Classic Movie Series.
Rear Window, 3 p.m. Sun., Aug. 6, Tampa Theatre, 711 Franklin St., downtown Tampa, 813-274-8286, www.tampatheatre.org.
This article appears in Aug 2-8, 2006.