Rear Window

Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". The film was originally released by Paramount Pictures. It stars James Stewart and Grace Kelly. The movie is about a wheelchair-bound photographer who spies on his neighbours from the window of his apartment. He becomes convinced one of them has committed murder. The film is considered by many filmgoers, critics and scholars to be one of Hitchcock's best. It received four Academy Award nominations and was ranked #42 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years…100 Movies list.

Critic Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" called the film a "tense and exciting exercise". He said Hitchcock was a director whose work has "a maximum of carefully tricked deception and incidents to divert and amuse." Crowther also notes the film exposes many aspects of the loneliness of city life. "Time" magazine said there is "never an instant ... when director Hitchcock is not in minute and masterly control of his material." "Variety" said the film "combines technical and artistic skills in a manner that makes this an unusually good piece of murder mystery entertainment." In 1997, Rear Window was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.