Hitchcock's "Rear Window" features a harmony of diverse love. It's not just a "peek" movie.

“Rear Window” synopsis

Photographer Jeff breaks his leg and is recuperating in an apartment in Greenwich Village, downtown New York. The only thing I can do to kill boredom is to spy on the people living in the apartment across the street with my telephoto camera. In the midst of all this, the sick wife, who had been having a heated argument with her salesman husband, disappeared from view. Convinced that it's a murder case, Jeff begins investigating with his girlfriend and nurse.

Index

• An unprecedented huge set that appeared in the studio
• A limited situation where you can't move and the world surrounding it
• What does the "Kuleshov effect" bring about?
• A "love story" woven behind suspense and humor.

An unprecedented huge set that appeared in the studio

The huge set that appeared on Paramount's 18th stage was said to be like a town. It took 50 workers six weeks to create this legendary apartment and courtyard, inspired by the Greenwich Village skyline. The building, which was constructed by tearing down the floor and adding underground space to ensure "height," has 31 rooms, each equipped with furniture and supervised by a cast member wearing skin-colored earphones. Together, they performed their daily activities according to the instructions.

There was also a drainage system for rainy scenes, and a function that could instantly switch the lighting to four levels: morning, noon, evening, and night with a single command. It is said that there was a steady stream of visitors from Japan and abroad coming to the filming location to get a glimpse of this unprecedentedly spectacular set.

Hitchcock's ``Rear Window'' (54), which has been a hot topic since the preparatory stage, is about the main character (James Stewart), who is unable to move due to a broken leg, and decides to go to the courtyard to make up for the idle time he has. This is a movie about peeking into other people's lives through the Rear Window.

"Rear Window" (c) Photofest / Getty Images

From the main character's fixed position, you can clearly see the lives and lives of the residents.It's easy to put it into words, but it takes a lot of effort to materialize it as an actual image. After all, even though the ``viewer'' is the main character, the life of the ``viewed person'' must also be clearly visible through the window.

In a sense, it is similar to the relationship between the audience seats and the stage. How should we create this theatrical space? After careful calculations and trial and error, it was the gigantic set mentioned above that made possible the state of ``peeking, being peeped at, and the movie theater audience peering into the scene even more.''

A limited situation where you can't move and the world surrounding it