Hitchcock's Rear Window

by Fawell, John; Hitchcock, Alfred

• ISBN13: 9780809324002
• ISBN10: 0809324008
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Southern Illinois Univ Pr

Summary

In the process of providing the most extensive analysis of Alfred Hitchcock'sRear Windowto date, John Fawell also dismantles many myths and cliches about Hitchcock, particularly in regard to his attitude toward women. AlthoughRear Windowmasquerades quite successfully as a piece of light entertainment, Fawell demonstrates just how complex the film really is. It is a film in which Hitchcock, the consummate virtuoso, was in full command of his technique. One of Hitchcock's favorite films,Rear Windowoffered the ideal venue for the great director to fully use the tricks and ideas he acquired over his previous three decades of filmmaking. Yet technique alone did not make this classic film great; one of Hitchcock's most personal films,Rear Windowis characterized by great depth of feeling. It offers glimpses of a sensibility at odds with the image Hitchcock created for himselfthat of the grand ghoul of cinema who mocks his audience with a slick and sadistic style. Though Hitchcock is often labeled a misanthrope and misogynist, Fawell finds evidence inRear Windowof a sympathy for the loneliness that leads to voyeurism and crime, as well as an empathy for the film's women. Fawell emphasizesa more feeling, humane spirit than either Hitchcock's critics have granted him or Hitchcock himself admitted to, and does so in a manner of interest to film scholars and general readers alike.

Author Biography

John Fawell is an associate professor in the Department of Humanities at the College of General Studies, Boston University. He writes widely on film and literature, covering everything from classical literature to filmmakers such as Hitchcock, Jacques Tati, Eric Rohmer, and Blake Edwards.    

Table of Contents

List of Plates	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(15)
Rear Window's Unity: Freedom Through Constraint	16	(25)
Escaping Jeff: Non-Point of View Shots	41	(8)
Jeff, Hitchcock's Emasculated Hero	49	(23)
Playing the Windows Game	72	(19)
Playing the Windows Game 2: The Lonely Hearts	91	(19)
The Feel of Loneliness	110	(13)
Hitchcock's Self-Reflexivity	123	(12)
Jeff as Hitchcock	135	(24)
Notes	159	(10)
Bibliography	169	(6)
Index	175