Yeah she was reading more into that and not noticing what it was really about, got to remember time period these are made and how subtle they need to be about certain things.
The couple that keeps their shades drawn are the newlyweds. They keep their windows closed not because they're hiding a crime, but because there's something else going on in there that they don't want their neighbors to see. At 16:56, when the guy finally opens the window, he's not annoyed. He's worn out. Apparently she's not. Same thing at 21:50.
It's funny that you mentioned right off that you would be looking for Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock eventually realized that people in the theaters were doing the same and he felt they were so engrossed in looking for him, that they weren't paying attention to the movie, so, he began to make his cameos very early in the film to sorta "get that over with" and let people pay attention to the film
I'm convinced the lady in the red wig that tells the guy how to grow his flowers is him in Drag, as well as the guy dusting off the mantle in the composers apartment
We’re introduced to Lisa Freemont (…Grace Kelly…) wearing formal evening wear. And at the end, she’s got on penny loafers and jeans, reading a sports magazine, but as soon as she sees Jeff is asleep, she slyly puts down the magazine and picks up Harper’s Bazaar. She’s still herself - but she’s got him. Also, every other window is a parallel universe version of Jeff and Lisa - Lonely Hearts, The Thorwalds, The Honeymooners, the old couple with a dog, the gorgeous blonde with all the men sniffing after her, but her man’s off and in danger, and she’s a one-man woman, etc….
The composer was played by Ross Bagdasarian, who is better known by his stage name, Dave Seville. He created Alvin and the Chipmunks. As for the honeymoon couple, basically the wife is...insatiable.
But it was a happy kind of exhausted. Keeping in mind, most couples didn't have sex together until they were married back then. The whole "Honey, I'm ready again!" and his tired expression, but then his willing return to the bedroom, was a sex joke that runs the length of the film. To answer Mia's question... if you were in a low-rent kind of apartment or boarding house, quite often they would ask people to behave in a very restrained manner, especially young women. It was common to ask young ladies to not ever bring their dates to their rooms and close the door. It was against the morality of the time to knowingly let unmarried people have sex. Also, a woman was judged far more harshly than a man if she had sex before marriage. Men often earned more money, and often would live in more expensive places, where management minded their own business, and you could be alone in your place with whoever you wished.
In the era that this was shot, a local call only required dialing seven numbers, but direct dialing a long distance call required dialing the three-digit area code plus the seven digit number. By the time this movie came out, direct dialing long distance calls (rather than just dialing 0 for the operator and giving the city and local number) had been in practice in big cities for six years.
@@lisathuban8969 believe it or not this restriction on visitors to your rent is still exist. i had to skip those reducing my chance to find a normal place, very offensive imo. landlords have way too much power
@@sodapop83 Goodness, where do you live? I rent out a few houses, I would not dream of telling a tenant how to live their lives. As long as no one is getting hurt and no crimes are being committed, it's really NONE of my business. I don't think landlords in this day and age should have that power.
I absolutely love this film, perhaps it's my favorite Hitchcock film - this or Rebecca. I'm giving away my age, but when I was pre-school, our family lived in northern New Jersey, in an old apartment building similar to the ones here. We even had the fire escape where we kids did sometimes sleep when it was hot in the summer. We had no air conditioning, so fans and open windows were all we could use to cool down. We played on the street and in the courtyard, where all the neighbors could see each other. It was a very different world then...
A clue to who the Bad Guy was, was that Lars was played by Raymond Burr. Before he became Good Guys Perry Mason and later Ironside he was almost always the "Heavy" in Films!
Indeed. Three years after this film was released, "Perry Mason" aired on TV, and in 1967, "Ironside." I've watched my share of classic crime and film noir, and you're spot on. Because of his size, Raymond Burr was typecast as a crime boss, hired muscle, or all-around goon. One notable exception was "A Place in the Sun" (1951), where he played a district attorney in a murder trial.
@@billolsen4360 he also played one juror in 12 angry men, the one who was the most ferocious against the accused kid an we understand why in the end, thanks to Fonda !
Although he only appears in long-shots, the man sleeping on the fire escape (and dog daddy) is Frank Cady, better known as Sam Drucker from Hooterville. Miss Lonelyhearts would later play the mute wife in William Castle's THE TINGLER. REAR WINDOW is essentially a "silent" film from 1954 in that all the important information is conveyed visually.
In some ways, all the windows work like channels on a television with different programs playing in each apartment, and Jimmy Stewart is flipping from channel to channel until....one channel deserves all of his attention!
Hitchcock shot the whole film on one set built at Paramount. They ripped out the floor so they could fit all four stories in. So the courtyard ground level was actually the stage's basement. Another great one-set Hitchcock film is Lifeboat. The whole movie takes place in a lifeboat and Hitch still manages to get in a cameo appearance Strangers on a Train is another great one. Can't wait to see you watch North by Northwest. Terrific job Mia!
Here's an interesting bit of trivia about Rear Window. Alfred Hitchcock first came to Hollywood in a partnership with Producer/Director David O. Selznick. Hitchcock soon began chafing under Selznick's overbearing artistic control on his movies. This eventually led to a very acrimonious split between the two. Subsequently when Hitchcock was making Rear Window he deliberately ordered that the actor playing the murderer (Raymond Burr) be made up to look like Selznick.
Conundrum, can we have a Bogie series without Maltese Falcon and the Big Sleep but on the other hand how can we have a film noir series without the Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep.
@@paulpeacock1181 I agree. I don't think anyone has ever reacted to either movie. The Maltese Falcon was John Houston's directorial debut and rocketed Bogie into stardom. I vote for both The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep!
This is my absolute favorite Hitchcock movie! So fun watching you watch this. Great reaction. Would love for you to watch "Dial M for Murder", also a Hitchcock movie. That's also starring Grace Kelly. Just love your outtakes.
I find myself preferring this version of Grace Kelly-the-Actress compared to my other Her Favorite, To Catch A Thief. I think I complain about the age-difference in that film, and perhaps the appearance of Her Mother in that film. Those make the romance a bit 'off' for me. But jeepers - nitpicking over watching Grace Kelly seems The Most Outrageous Concept I've had.
I honestly don't think any woman has looked more beautiful in a film than Grace Kelly in this. If you want more Thelma Ritter I'd recommend Pickup on South Street, she was nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar and will break your heart.
Both versions of "Man Who Knew Too Much" are great, one of the only instances I can think of where the director remakes his own movie! I love both versions.
Great reaction! One memorable part for me is when Thorwald (Burr) glares at Jefferies (Stewart) through the window. It's like that sinking feeling when you've been exposed, feeling like "ohhh shit," and also the irony that the killer discovers the discoverer of his murder in a similar way.
I love your appreciation for older classics, my favorite movie reactor🥰i recommend Dial M For Murder (with Grace Kelly) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (with James Stewart) Keep it up!!
@@MoviesWithMia How could you not know the dude did kill his wife? your whole perception of the story is off. Of course he killed her. And the couple weren't doing anything but having a lot of sex, how could you not figure that out?
If it's not on your list, the other James Stewart movie of Hitchcock's to watch is The Man Who Knew Too Much with Doris Day. Thelma Ritter was one of the best character actors of her time.
Hitchcock generally does not do "who done its," movies where you are supposed to try to guess who the killer is. He builds suspense from other material.
Great reaction. One thing for me that makes this film so ingenious is Jeff is in the same position as people in a movie theater so our empathy is reflected in his position of being in a chair and watching framed images telling stories and wanting to observe and see their dilemmas.
How reactors generally react to Grace Kelly in 'Rear Window' is also how they generally react to Ingrid Bergman in 'Casablanca': it's either 'Oh my god she's so pretty' or "Oh my God she's perfect."
The deep blue of the eyes is an artifact of how Technicolor (and its equivalent) films were colorized back then. The colors are all artificially rich in films from this era, but I absolutely love it!
@@MoviesWithMia My three favorite Hitchcock movies are (in order of preference): 1. Rear Window (you checked that off the list here, obviously) 2. Man Who Knew Too Much ( be careful here… there was an old black and white version that Hitchcock directed - You want the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock-directed Color version with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day) 3. North by Northwest You know what you have to watch after NXNW, don’t you … ;-)
No one ever mentions Shirley Maclaine’s first movie. Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry”. It’s one of his dark comedies and it has John Forsythe and Jerry Matthers. It is so delightful.
Mia does a fine job with her observations, and she's fun to watch. I've been a classic movie buff for decades now, especially as I've grown increasingly frustrated and disenchanted with most modern (post-2000) movies. Instead, I've discovered Hollywood's Golden Age, and there's a good reason it is called that. I'm hopeful that the Mia and the many others who are watching and sharing their reactions and commentary will help create a renewed appreciation of these great movies in younger audiences than myself, and hopeful--that might create the demand for better quality movies out of Hollywood than the crap we've been seeing for the past 20 years or so.
Jimmy Stewart is one of my all-time favorite actors. You'll love him in "Harvey" (1950). Stewart is as charming and endearing as can be in a film about an eccentric man with a 6-foot tall invisible rabbit friend. I enjoy the content you share here!
Hi, Mia. So you finally saw this one. Some thoughts: Hitchcock didn't just like blondes. He was obsessed with blond Grace Kelly and, when she was not available, tried to replicate her a la Vertigo with a number of blond substitutes (Novak, Saint, Leigh, Miles, Hedren). Shout out to Ross Bagdasarian (the composer here) who in real life was a real composer. He used the alias Dave Seville and wrote "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" and "Witch Doctor" (both performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks). He was loosely played by Jason Lee in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) and sequels. Bagdasarian also wrote "Come On-a My House," Rosemary Clooney's biggest hit.
A film astonishingly rich in psychological symbolism. Every apartment that he peers into contains something that Jeff is either fearful of, or wishes for. These are forbidden wishes and fears that he is not completely consciously aware of. My favorite Hitchcock film along with Vertigo.
I could not agree more about Thelma Ritter, I love character actors like her and Mary Wickes and Eve Arden, sassy dames that will never get the star but you don't want to get in a battle of wits with them, they'll cut you to ribbons. And Jimmy Stewart's character must be insane not to want to marry Grace Kelly. She truly was perfect, easily top 5 most beautiful Hollywood actresses along with Greta Garbo, Gene Tierney and Marilyn Monroe.
You may be too young, but I think Hitchcock wanted to portray the loneliness of people living in the city, even if they are surrounded by so many people yet they are lonely. Love your videos and seeing your excitement in watching these movies for the first time ... Great job
Have you watched The Birds yet? That movie is the reason I’m scared of Birds to this day. They showed us that movie when I was in the 9th grade as a “reward”. Yeah that was a gift that kept on giving. 😳🤣
Great reaction! I think it's hilarious that you spent the entire movie: A) Sticking up for the killer, and B) Being suspicious of the couple with their shades drawn. They were newlyweds... in the 1950's... there was nothing happening behind those shades but lots and lots of sex!
I LOVE this movie and this whole era of Hitchcock!!!! Grace Kelley at her MOSTEST!!! Those dresses! On the big screen that shot at night into the darkened room where u see the red glow of the cigarette is CHILLING!!
I've also noticed the brightness of blue eyes in Technicolor films. I assume it's intrinsic to that 3-strip process, but it may also depend on who color graded the movie. I read a great book on Rear Window by John Fawell called The Well-Made Film. Jeff is a voyeur, but so are we. The shape of some of the windows are the same ratio as the film itself.
Another Jimmy Stewart/Hitchcock is the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. My favorite Hitchcock is North by Northwest with Cary Grant. Thus set is in a large Soundstage. To make the buildings three stories tall they needed to dig 10 feet down.
The thing about the landlord. Remember this was the 50s when sex outside marriage was definitely not the done thing... Also your whole reaction to this film, and whether or not he killed his wife, is a perfect illustration of why showing the murder in Rope was a mistake. Another great reaction for a great film. :)
Ahh! I see, wow I didn’t know that having sex outside of marriage could get you in trouble with your landlord! Wow times were different 😂 and YES!! I completely agree with you! Not showing the murder scene in Rope would have made the movie so much more intriguing!!
@@MoviesWithMia But Rope and Rear Window are two completely different films. In Rope the protagonists are the killers, while in Rear Window the protagonists are the people trying to solve the crime. We are supposed to solve the case here, while in Rope the tension comes from the question if the killers get caught. That is the brilliant twist about Rope, making the viewer complicit, turning James Stewart in an antagonist whom we still want to win. Not making it clear if a crime had even been committed in Rope would have made it a completely different - and in my opinion less interesting - movie.
@@MoviesWithMia It may have been a bit different in the US, but not much I would guess. In the UK, having someone stay overnight could get you thrown out, because the landlord (or landlady) wouldn't want their house to be seen to be a place where such goings on were encouraged. It was often a house rule that the tenant couldn't have overnight guests. Much stricter times before morals went to hell in a handcart ;-)
All true about public morals, but it's also true that people weren't stupid. As long as one observed the proprieties, many people really didn't care what went on in private. The difference is that people now demand public acceptance, even celebration, of their behaviour regardless of what it is. From an anthropological perspective one can argue the merits of either approach or of something in between. I disagree with the criticism of "Rope". The long running TV-movie series "Columbo" almost always opened with us watching a murderer plan and execute the crime. There's a reason it was such a popular show.
@@anhistorian7255 I imagine it was that way because most people rented their own homes as boarding houses and the “guest” was not vetted, so it’s also a security issue.
My favourite Hitchcock movie bar none. The dialogue is flawless, the acting is great, and the premise is so breathtakingly original (despite being based on a book). Plus the camera-work was excellent, keeping us in Stewart's POV for 99% of the time, constantly keeping us doubting what we think we know. Glad you had such a great time with it.
Her very first movie role, an uncredited one in Miracle on 34th Street, is how I first saw her. Even though it was just a minute or so, she was very memorable!
Of the many excellences of this superb achievement I find myself most in awe over the use of sound. The pastel shadings of sound wafting through the apartment - an assortment of music from many genres. And of course that magnificent set. How about the songwriter's progression from starting to write, getting frustrated, completing the song, and finally having a recording made which he plays for his newfound friend "Miss Lonelyhesrts". Did you catch the name of the song at the very end - "Lisa", which just happens to play over the last shot as we watch Lisa Fremont reading a book about the Himalayas, then switching to a glamour magazine. I think that's just wonderful beyond words. Trivia: When Jeff is on the phone early on, the music that Miss Torso is dancing to was written by Leonard Bernstein as part of a ballet back in the '40's called "Fancy Free". Also, when the dog is being lowered (the first time, during the day), composer Franz Waxman stole some music from his own previous film score for "A Place In The Sun". BTW that's a great movie - Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters. Hint hint.....
Don't know if it's been mentioned here but all the actors we see through the windows were fitted with flesh tone earpieces so that Hitchcock could direct them via radio. Very clever, especially for the panning shots of all the neighbors since they couldn't see each other.
Years ago, before moving to Florida, we had a lovely garden on W 89 & CPW. We entertained there often. One day, on a movie line, a man came up and said "What a great party that was." We didn't know who he was and it turned out he overlooked our garden from W 90. Very Rear Window.
Jeffries knew he was dialing long distance because back in 1954 you had to call the operator and give them the number you wanted to reach. And in 1954 people didn't openly stay overnight with their boyfriend/girlfriend. It was a don't ask don't tell situation.
Having built the apartment building in a warehouse,Hitchcock directed the actors via radio. I also wonder how many men wanted to be in James Stewart's place during the movie?
As an ancient relic I am going to relate a couple insights about what we saw of Raymond Burr's character: The new looking shirts he was packing are shirts received back from the cleaners, many if not most people, especially in apartments did not have a wash machine in 1954, so they often had their laundry done. The sequence of numbers recognized by James Stewart's character, dialed by the murderer was a familiar one, to get a long distance operator, you dialed these numbers rather than "O" for operator... direct long distance dialing was not possible until AT&T invented computerized charging for dialed numbers. I really love your viewing of these classic masterpieces; and there are so many more to watch, such as the older Marlene Dietrich movies made in the early 30's. I will continue to watch your viewings.
Thanks for reacting to this. It is one of my favorites. Have you covered "North by Northwest". You need to understand the conditions people before the 60s lived in. Very little TV available, no private sized air conditioning so summer meant open windows and maybe a fan. Generally in town an open garden space was allowed for between the buildings for airflow and heat dissipation.
Notice how nobody in this housing bloc seems to own a TV set yet, which only became available for private use a few years earlier. Watching the neighbours would have been a major temptation especially for someone who was bored and on the verge of developing cabin fever.
This was filmed during a record breaking heat wave made worse by the number of huge lights. Hitch needed that many to make it bright as daylight. It got so hot the fire sprinklers went off and at one point Hitch gave everyone four days off to recover.
This film is an acid test. Not of if you should be watching movies, because everyone should be. But if you're someone when they TALK about movies, if you should be taken seriously. It's not a complicated film. Even the mystery isn't much of a mystery. But the visual language is SO advanced, so compelling, if someone sees it and just says they found it boring...
10 out of 10 - it deserves nothing less. Watching your reaction was like watching another window in that apartment block as you slowly realised it wasn't the honeymoon couple but actually Lars who had done the dirty deed!
You really do not know what a cool bath for my senses it was to hear an American say "different *from"* instead of "different *than".* Bless you, bless you, lassie!" xxx 🇬🇧
The lawsuit story is interesting to me. I never saw disturbia, but I did meet Spielberg in a restaurant once way before disturbia was made. I went up to him and asked him what would you suggest for a young kid who is interested in film do. Should I go to film school etc… he’s said “study Rear window by Alfred Hitchcock and you will learn everything four years of film school can teach you” so I don’t know if he stole the idea or whatever but he obviously holds that film in super high regard.
Are you doing the Noirvember Challenge, Mia? If you are, i recommend Out of the Past (1947). As for Rear Window, it's so good, i absolute love Grace and Jimmy ( he got better and better and he grew older, in every sense, even got more and more handsome) but i'm such a Thelma Ritter fan as well, she was amazing. Raymond Burr was very good too. Hitch just knew how to make them. Such a brilliant body of work.
Yeah, that’s our next series! Though, I didn’t know it was a challenge… what is the challenge? Now I want to try it!! Thank you for your recommendation!! I will check it out!
@@MoviesWithMia Awesome! Oh, i wrote noirvember challenge because of habit ( do it among some classic movies friends) but should just have asked if you're watching Noirs and in November. The challenge changes depending on forums and classic movies fans groups. The one i'm part is with real life friends and it's 30 days of November becomes 30 days Noirvember, a noir per day, but it varies, other groups watch 1 for week, some 60 movies for the month, so knowing you're doing your noirvember month is already amazing. As long as one watches noirs in noirvember, being 1 or 100, it's already cool. haha Thank you for the reactions and i can't wait to see your choices. English is not my first language ( I'm brazilian) so excuse the mistakes.
Now you most definitely need to watch Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day in Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" Also Doris in"Midnight Lace". Thelma Ritter is a great character actress. She is in several comedy movies with Doris Day. "Pillow Talk"(Rock Hudson) & "The Thrill of it All"(James Garner).
This is my favorite movie of all time. I can re-watch repeatedly and never get tired of it. BTW, there's an episode of Castle that paid homage to this movie and it was very enjoyable for a Rare Window fan.
Fun fact: The Albert Hotel, to which Jeff lures Thorwold to get him out of the apartment, is not only a real place in this neighborhood in NYC, but it still exists. It's called The Albert Apartments now.
So now we all know there's a twist in "Laura". Show a little restraint, people... these "old" films are still brand new to most people, including our host. It is though, another argument for Mia leaving her research for after she has watched. So easy to get spoiled on the intertubes.
Love to see your reactions to "North by Northwest" and "To Catch a Thief," both fantastic Hitchcock extravaganzas - plus "To Catch a Thief" is a splendid 1950s visual feast!!!
@ 6:20 Not gonna lie, every time I see this, I think the bathing beauty sitting there is Alfred Hitchcock doing his cameo in drag! What an enjoyable review. I love all the waffling back and forth about who the killer could be, it made me chuckle. p.s.: I'm watching with my trusty handbag, who enjoyed the video too. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review "The Bad Seed" from 1956 about a killer little girl. THANKS!
This video was so much fun! I have watched this movie of like 100 times and I never knew that Hitchcock was actually in the film. I visited universal and went to a Hitchcock experience. And they had a set piece that gave you the perspective from his view where you can look into every window and I think they had like a little movie playing in each window it was pretty cool. Great fun! Thanks for sharing!!!
Sometimes all you need is to be a professional photographer to elevate your status from "creepy voyeur" to "someone who observes people". --- Fun fact: "Lars" was played by Raymond Burr - best known for playing iconic TV lawyer Perry Mason. The popularity of Perry Mason seems to have overshadowed his second most iconic role - "Chief" Robert T. Ironside, a former police detective who for 8 seasons ... (wait for it....) solved crimes from his wheelchair.
Cary Grant was in Hitchcock 3x so was Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. Kelly was in To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Dial M for Murder with Ray Milland. To Catch a Thief was filmed on the French Riviera. Kelly was asked to do a photo shoot in nearby Monaco where she met her future husband. Hitchcock wanted Grace Kelly for the role of Marnie in the early 60s but it didn't give a good look. Sorry this is so long. Loved your reaction.
Cary Grant and James Stewart both made four Hitchcock movies. The Man Who Knew to Much stars Stewart, and Suspicion with Joan Fountain with Cary Grant are probably the two movies that you missed
Coupla things to mention: This set was the talk of the town in 1954. Paramount had lured Hitchcock in a multi-film deal from Warner Brothers and bent over backwards to please him on this first film for them. They actually dug through the cement of their largest soundstage to create a basement and created this four story set, complete with drainage and sprinklers to simulate rain. Each apartment had its own ;lighting and microphone so Hitchcock could give direction from across the courtyard. Brilliant. Criminal that the set design was overlooked by the Academy. The.other remarkable thing was the music score by Franz Waxman. The jazzy title theme was to suggest the jazz scene of the lower village where this takes place, but beside the song "created" by the musician, they are the only original pieces of music. The rest is diegetic -- originating from the source, as if playing from radios or the street . Notice especially the diabolical tongue-in-cheek choice of the Rogers & Hart standard "Lover" on the rainy night the murderer takes the body out of the apartment. Paramount owned the rights this from a 1932 Jeanette McDonald film. They also used "To See You is to Love You" for Miss Lonelyhearts sung by Bing Crosby in a 1952 Paramount Road picture. The other Paramount owned song used is "Mona Lisa" that won the Academy Award from a long-forgotten 1950 Paramount movie called "Captain Carey, USA".
"Captain Carey, USA" may be forgotten, but the song "Mona Lisa" is very much alive and well. It was a big hit for Nat King Cole, among others, and was the inspiration for the very nice 1986 Bob Hoskins movie of the same name. If anyone hasn't seen that one, it's worth the watch.
Mia - if you listen again carefully, I believe the Thelma Ritter character says at the end, "No thanks, I don't want any part of •HER•!" She doesn't put a lot of stress on the last word, so there's an outside possibility that she did say, "it" (the situation). But then she gives the camera a look - and you realize that she probably did say, "her" - and perhaps Stella has just realized (again) that the victim they're talking about has (presumably) been cut into pieces. So Stella saying "her" would work better as conveying a double-meaning: 1) I don't want to go near any of the victim's body parts, and 2) I don't want to spend any more mental energy observing or thinking about her murder-situation. :)
I suggest to at some point check out High Society (1956). It’s a semi musical remake of The Philadelphia Story starring Grace Kelly. I don’t think it’s that good. But it’s an interesting watch for comparison sake, especially if you’re a Grace Kelly fan, and it contains some good songs.
Raymond Burr who played Lars Thorwald also played Perry Mason on a long running TV show which started shortly after this movie was released. He was also in the American version of Godzilla as a reporter in Japan.
Jimmy Stewart's character knows that Lars Thorwald is dialing long-distance, because, back then, for long-distance phone calls, people dialed 10 digits, but for local calls, without an area-code, they dialed only 7 digits. Today, both local and long-distance numbers use 11 digits, including the 1.
You should consider watching "Cat People" with Simone Simon, "The Ghost and Mrs Muir " with Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison, "Bachelor Mother" with Ginger Rogers and David Niven, and/or "Miracle of Morgan's Creek" with Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken. The last two are good ones for Christmastime. For Noirs in November, Gaslight, Laura, and Leave Her to Heaven are good options.
Good reaction and I love that you are visiting these great classics. However, I wish you wouldn't read the synopsis or trivia until *after* you watch the film. I think it hurt your viewing experience on this one. The question you should be asking during the movie is whether Lars killed his wife or not, whether we are interpreting his actions correctly. Instead, you were more looking for *who* killed their wife as opposed to whether a wife was killed. :)
I think after watching Vertigo, I was waiting for the big plot twist. But the beautiful thing about Hitchcock is that he still knows how to get you, even by not doing anything spectacular! Also, I don’t think having the facts at the end of the video would make much of a difference considering that I would still be doing all of the research before actually watching the movie. So, regardless of where the facts are in the video, they are still known to me during the reaction.
@@MoviesWithMia I was thinking that you should do the research after watching the movies because in your reactions you seem to know too much about the film while watching. I don’t know about others, but I’d like it a little better if you went in blind and then had all the trivia and behind the scenes stuff after.
I appreciate your opinion, Kevy Nova. I have thought about this long and hard and considered all the feedback, which is quite divided. I really enjoy knowing the historical background before going into the film. It makes the watching experience more worth it for me. So, I am going to continue adding the historical background and interesting facts in the beginning of the reactions.
@@MoviesWithMia I’ll keep watching either way because I am enjoying your videos. The only part that annoys me at all is when you obviously know more about the movie than you probably should but that’s just my opinion. I do look forward to your videos, especially the Twilight Zone ones because it’s my favorite show and I’ve seen every episode multiple times.
Another example of Hitchcock's brilliant direction is the repeated panorama of the courtyard from composer's studio apartment all the way to newlyweds' room. And finally pan into Jeff's apartment with Jeff watching the neighbors. Then Hitchcock starts tricking us by panning into Jeff's apartment but Jeff isn't watching the neighbors. We are watching the neighbors Thus making the audience the voyeur. Love it!
Back then local calls you only dialed, 7 digits, if you were doing a Long distance calls, outside the area code, you had to dial 1 first, then the area code. When he dialed 1 that let him know it was long distance
There isn't so much mystery to this one, it's quite straightforward. That's probably why it's so popular with many requesting reactions. Good but there's more intriguing Hitchcock.
This is a true classic. I love how you see everything through Jimmy Stewart's eyes. The Camera hardly ever leaves his bedroom and doesn't show too much but still creates feelings or horror and dread. Now I have to watch this movie again.
The thing about rear window as much as Hitchcock wants to make you think you are looking into the outside its obviously not the case, its composed inside a set. The give away is that with all windows open ,lights on and no bugs , still Hitch has you in a daze believing you are looking outside.
Your enthusiasm for older films is great!! If it gets a few younger film lovers to not ignore everything older than Star Wars then you have done a great service.
LOVE YOUR WORK. Your comments are funny. One quick little mystery for you on “Rear Window”, what do “His Kind of Woman, Godzilla and Perry Mason “ have in common with this movie. Small it’s an actor. He was essential to Rear Window. Hope you go for it Sherlock.
The newlywed husband is not annoyed with his wife. He’s worn out! She gotta have it 24/7!
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Yeah she was reading more into that and not noticing what it was really about, got to remember time period these are made and how subtle they need to be about certain things.
Yup. The joke is the innocent bride is wearing him out!
Yarp....🤣😅
Yep lol she wore him out the whole movie 😂🎥
The couple that keeps their shades drawn are the newlyweds. They keep their windows closed not because they're hiding a crime, but because there's something else going on in there that they don't want their neighbors to see. At 16:56, when the guy finally opens the window, he's not annoyed. He's worn out. Apparently she's not. Same thing at 21:50.
He’s quickly turning into Al Bundy.
Yeah, Mia was sus of them but im like nah they’re just newlyweds and going at it like rabbits. Dude needs a break and he’s like AGAIN???😂 🐇
Hahaha.. spot on my friend 😂😂
Too much assuming on her part about two minor characters.
It's funny that you mentioned right off that you would be looking for Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock eventually realized that people in the theaters were doing the same and he felt they were so engrossed in looking for him, that they weren't paying attention to the movie, so, he began to make his cameos very early in the film to sorta "get that over with" and let people pay attention to the film
thats funny, he decided to make his cameos early instead of not doing cameos at all.
@@bikingchupei2447 but if he did, people would obsess throughout the movie and ignore what's going on in the movie itself.
True, especially for his later films. That was corroborated by his daughter Pat in an interview.
Well that explains a lot. I thought I noticed a shift in later movies. About early 50's, I think.
I'm convinced the lady in the red wig that tells the guy how to grow his flowers is him in Drag, as well as the guy dusting off the mantle in the composers apartment
We’re introduced to Lisa Freemont (…Grace Kelly…) wearing formal evening wear. And at the end, she’s got on penny loafers and jeans, reading a sports magazine, but as soon as she sees Jeff is asleep, she slyly puts down the magazine and picks up Harper’s Bazaar. She’s still herself - but she’s got him.
Also, every other window is a parallel universe version of Jeff and Lisa - Lonely Hearts, The Thorwalds, The Honeymooners, the old couple with a dog, the gorgeous blonde with all the men sniffing after her, but her man’s off and in danger, and she’s a one-man woman, etc….
Without spoiling any details, it's fun to compare the last scene of this movie with that of "To Catch A Thief".
Dude- never thought about the parallel universes!!!
The composer was played by Ross Bagdasarian, who is better known by his stage name, Dave Seville. He created Alvin and the Chipmunks. As for the honeymoon couple, basically the wife is...insatiable.
that poor exhausted groom :))
That sounds like one of those good problems to have
A newlywed girl in the 50’s. You waited to have sex until marriage. Then it’s on!
He knows it's long distance by counting the number of digits he was dialing. The newlywed guy wasn't disgusted he was exhausted.
But it was a happy kind of exhausted.
Keeping in mind, most couples didn't have sex together until they were married back then. The whole "Honey, I'm ready again!" and his tired expression, but then his willing return to the bedroom, was a sex joke that runs the length of the film.
To answer Mia's question... if you were in a low-rent kind of apartment or boarding house, quite often they would ask people to behave in a very restrained manner, especially young women. It was common to ask young ladies to not ever bring their dates to their rooms and close the door. It was against the morality of the time to knowingly let unmarried people have sex. Also, a woman was judged far more harshly than a man if she had sex before marriage.
Men often earned more money, and often would live in more expensive places, where management minded their own business, and you could be alone in your place with whoever you wished.
In the era that this was shot, a local call only required dialing seven numbers, but direct dialing a long distance call required dialing the three-digit area code plus the seven digit number. By the time this movie came out, direct dialing long distance calls (rather than just dialing 0 for the operator and giving the city and local number) had been in practice in big cities for six years.
@@lisathuban8969 believe it or not this restriction on visitors to your rent is still exist. i had to skip those reducing my chance to find a normal place, very offensive imo. landlords have way too much power
@@sodapop83 Goodness, where do you live? I rent out a few houses, I would not dream of telling a tenant how to live their lives. As long as no one is getting hurt and no crimes are being committed, it's really NONE of my business. I don't think landlords in this day and age should have that power.
@@lisathuban8969 in london
Lisa's introduction is one of the greatest character introductions of all time.
I absolutely love this film, perhaps it's my favorite Hitchcock film - this or Rebecca. I'm giving away my age, but when I was pre-school, our family lived in northern New Jersey, in an old apartment building similar to the ones here. We even had the fire escape where we kids did sometimes sleep when it was hot in the summer. We had no air conditioning, so fans and open windows were all we could use to cool down. We played on the street and in the courtyard, where all the neighbors could see each other. It was a very different world then...
A clue to who the Bad Guy was, was that Lars was played by Raymond Burr. Before he became Good Guys Perry Mason and later Ironside he was almost always the "Heavy" in Films!
Indeed. Three years after this film was released, "Perry Mason" aired on TV, and in 1967, "Ironside." I've watched my share of classic crime and film noir, and you're spot on. Because of his size, Raymond Burr was typecast as a crime boss, hired muscle, or all-around goon. One notable exception was "A Place in the Sun" (1951), where he played a district attorney in a murder trial.
Yeah, Burr was damn nasty in some of those earlier films, often a gangster.
He also played the reporter in the original black and white Godzilla movie
@@billolsen4360 he also played one juror in 12 angry men, the one who was the most ferocious against the accused kid an we understand why in the end, thanks to Fonda !
@@Fanfanbalibar This was the film that finally put Burr on the map.
Although he only appears in long-shots, the man sleeping on the fire escape (and dog daddy) is Frank Cady, better known as Sam Drucker from Hooterville. Miss Lonelyhearts would later play the mute wife in William Castle's THE TINGLER. REAR WINDOW is essentially a "silent" film from 1954 in that all the important information is conveyed visually.
Whaaaat??? Really! Missed that!
In some ways, all the windows work like channels on a television with different programs playing in each apartment, and Jimmy Stewart is flipping from channel to channel until....one channel deserves all of his attention!
Hooterville included both Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.
Hitchcock shot the whole film on one set built at Paramount. They ripped out the floor so they could fit all four stories in. So the courtyard ground level was actually the stage's basement.
Another great one-set Hitchcock film is Lifeboat. The whole movie takes place in a lifeboat and Hitch still manages to get in a cameo appearance
Strangers on a Train is another great one. Can't wait to see you watch North by Northwest. Terrific job Mia!
Another is Rope.
Here's an interesting bit of trivia about Rear Window.
Alfred Hitchcock first came to Hollywood in a partnership with Producer/Director David O. Selznick. Hitchcock soon began chafing under Selznick's overbearing artistic control on his movies. This eventually led to a very acrimonious split between the two. Subsequently when Hitchcock was making Rear Window he deliberately ordered that the actor playing the murderer (Raymond Burr) be made up to look like Selznick.
Ha ha ha !
Notice that things are moving really slowly and then Hitch shows up and he's winding the mantel clock- right after that the plot starts picking up!
If you haven’t done it yet, The Maltese Falcon is a great movie as well.
This and The Big Sleep are probably my favorite noir movies AND my favorite Bogart movies, so let's make her watch them.
Conundrum, can we have a Bogie series without Maltese Falcon and the Big Sleep but on the other hand how can we have a film noir series without the Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep.
@@paulpeacock1181 I agree. I don't think anyone has ever reacted to either movie. The Maltese Falcon was John Houston's directorial debut and rocketed Bogie into stardom. I vote for both The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep!
@@donkfail1 Two great movies! I think Mia would be the perfect host to react to both of them.
"The Stuff that Dreams are made of."
This is my absolute favorite Hitchcock movie! So fun watching you watch this. Great reaction. Would love for you to watch "Dial M for Murder", also a Hitchcock movie. That's also starring Grace Kelly. Just love your outtakes.
I find myself preferring this version of Grace Kelly-the-Actress compared to my other Her Favorite, To Catch A Thief. I think I complain about the age-difference in that film, and perhaps the appearance of Her Mother in that film. Those make the romance a bit 'off' for me. But jeepers - nitpicking over watching Grace Kelly seems The Most Outrageous Concept I've had.
My absolute favorite scene is watching Grace Kelly climb up the fire escape in that awesome yellow dress!
@@BuffaloC305 Is there more of an age difference in To Catch a Thief than in this, though?
I honestly don't think any woman has looked more beautiful in a film than Grace Kelly in this. If you want more Thelma Ritter I'd recommend Pickup on South Street, she was nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar and will break your heart.
Another Hitchcock's classic "The Man Who Knew Too Much" from 1956 is the MUST, I wanna see your reaction to it pls make it happen🥰🥰
Both versions of "Man Who Knew Too Much" are great, one of the only instances I can think of where the director remakes his own movie! I love both versions.
Great reaction! One memorable part for me is when Thorwald (Burr) glares at Jefferies (Stewart) through the window. It's like that sinking feeling when you've been exposed, feeling like "ohhh shit," and also the irony that the killer discovers the discoverer of his murder in a similar way.
Ohh shit is right, was scared when their eyes met
I love your appreciation for older classics, my favorite movie reactor🥰i recommend Dial M For Murder (with Grace Kelly) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (with James Stewart)
Keep it up!!
Thank you so much!! And thank you for watching 😊😊
@@MoviesWithMia
How could you not know the dude did kill his wife? your whole perception of the story is off. Of course he killed her. And the couple weren't doing anything but having a lot of sex, how could you not figure that out?
If it's not on your list, the other James Stewart movie of Hitchcock's to watch is The Man Who Knew Too Much with Doris Day. Thelma Ritter was one of the best character actors of her time.
THIS
Man Who Knew Too Much brings me to tears, one specific scene. (No spoilers. Those who’ve seen it might be able to guess which scene…)
@@davidolden971 I think I know. It makes me misty eyed too.
Loved Thelma Ritter.
Oh, yes Dial M is a good one. Do watch it.
Hitchcock generally does not do "who done its," movies where you are supposed to try to guess who the killer is. He builds suspense from other material.
Great reaction. One thing for me that makes this film so ingenious is Jeff is in the same position as people in a movie theater so our empathy is reflected in his position of being in a chair and watching framed images telling stories and wanting to observe and see their dilemmas.
The part where Thorwald sees Jeff watching him is one of the greatest moments in movie history.
How reactors generally react to Grace Kelly in 'Rear Window' is also how they generally react to Ingrid Bergman in 'Casablanca': it's either 'Oh my god she's so pretty' or "Oh my God she's perfect."
The deep blue of the eyes is an artifact of how Technicolor (and its equivalent) films were colorized back then. The colors are all artificially rich in films from this era, but I absolutely love it!
I absolutely LOVED THIS!!! "Psycho" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much", and "North by Northwest" are a must!!!!
Joe! Thank you so much for watching!! We have a Rope reaction video available on the Hitchcock playlist! And North by Northwest is our next movie!
Awesome, I'll definitely stay tuned!!😎
@@MoviesWithMia My three favorite Hitchcock movies are (in order of preference):
1. Rear Window (you checked that off the list here, obviously)
2. Man Who Knew Too Much ( be careful here… there was an old black and white version that Hitchcock directed - You want the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock-directed Color version with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day)
3. North by Northwest
You know what you have to watch after NXNW, don’t you … ;-)
hey walter white
Also The Man who knew too little, with Bill Murray.
No one ever mentions Shirley Maclaine’s first movie. Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry”. It’s one of his dark comedies and it has John Forsythe and Jerry Matthers. It is so delightful.
The Trouble With Harry is one of my favourite Hitchcock films!! It's so odd but so much fun.
(CREDITS ROLLING AT END OF MOVIE)
mia: "I still don't trust the newlywed couple."
Mia does a fine job with her observations, and she's fun to watch. I've been a classic movie buff for decades now, especially as I've grown increasingly frustrated and disenchanted with most modern (post-2000) movies. Instead, I've discovered Hollywood's Golden Age, and there's a good reason it is called that. I'm hopeful that the Mia and the many others who are watching and sharing their reactions and commentary will help create a renewed appreciation of these great movies in younger audiences than myself, and hopeful--that might create the demand for better quality movies out of Hollywood than the crap we've been seeing for the past 20 years or so.
Jimmy Stewart is one of my all-time favorite actors. You'll love him in "Harvey" (1950). Stewart is as charming and endearing as can be in a film about an eccentric man with a 6-foot tall invisible rabbit friend. I enjoy the content you share here!
Hi, Mia. So you finally saw this one. Some thoughts: Hitchcock didn't just like blondes. He was obsessed with blond Grace Kelly and, when she was not available, tried to replicate her a la Vertigo with a number of blond substitutes (Novak, Saint, Leigh, Miles, Hedren). Shout out to Ross Bagdasarian (the composer here) who in real life was a real composer. He used the alias Dave Seville and wrote "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" and "Witch Doctor" (both performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks). He was loosely played by Jason Lee in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) and sequels. Bagdasarian also wrote "Come On-a My House," Rosemary Clooney's biggest hit.
A film astonishingly rich in psychological symbolism. Every apartment that he peers into contains something that Jeff is either fearful of, or wishes for. These are forbidden wishes and fears that he is not completely consciously aware of. My favorite Hitchcock film along with Vertigo.
I could not agree more about Thelma Ritter, I love character actors like her and Mary Wickes and Eve Arden, sassy dames that will never get the star but you don't want to get in a battle of wits with them, they'll cut you to ribbons.
And Jimmy Stewart's character must be insane not to want to marry Grace Kelly. She truly was perfect, easily top 5 most beautiful Hollywood actresses along with Greta Garbo, Gene Tierney and Marilyn Monroe.
Greta Garbo is not that good looking. In fact she was quite manish
@@patstokes7040 She was a lesbian and seemed like one, but I don't think that took anything away from her beauty. She wasn't so popular for no reason.
@@patstokes7040 and Monroe quite vulgar !
You may be too young, but I think Hitchcock wanted to portray the loneliness of people living in the city, even if they are surrounded by so many people yet they are lonely. Love your videos and seeing your excitement in watching these movies for the first time ... Great job
Have you watched The Birds yet? That movie is the reason I’m scared of Birds to this day. They showed us that movie when I was in the 9th grade as a “reward”. Yeah that was a gift that kept on giving. 😳🤣
"I See You Boo" needs to be your first t-shirt! 😁
Oh I love that!! Yes!!! It really should!!
@@MoviesWithMia I think it is becoming your catchphrase!
It is fun to watch Lisa’s wardrobe gradually become more casual through the film, as her character changes or as Jeff’s perception of her changes.
Great reaction! I think it's hilarious that you spent the entire movie:
A) Sticking up for the killer, and
B) Being suspicious of the couple with their shades drawn. They were newlyweds... in the 1950's... there was nothing happening behind those shades but lots and lots of sex!
I LOVE this movie and this whole era of Hitchcock!!!!
Grace Kelley at her MOSTEST!!! Those dresses!
On the big screen that shot at night into the darkened room where u see the red glow of the cigarette is CHILLING!!
I've also noticed the brightness of blue eyes in Technicolor films. I assume it's intrinsic to that 3-strip process, but it may also depend on who color graded the movie.
I read a great book on Rear Window by John Fawell called The Well-Made Film. Jeff is a voyeur, but so are we. The shape of some of the windows are the same ratio as the film itself.
Another Jimmy Stewart/Hitchcock is the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much.
My favorite Hitchcock is North by Northwest with Cary Grant.
Thus set is in a large Soundstage. To make the buildings three stories tall they needed to dig 10 feet down.
I love how Hitchcock gets us twisted around until the end.
The thing about the landlord. Remember this was the 50s when sex outside marriage was definitely not the done thing... Also your whole reaction to this film, and whether or not he killed his wife, is a perfect illustration of why showing the murder in Rope was a mistake. Another great reaction for a great film. :)
Ahh! I see, wow I didn’t know that having sex outside of marriage could get you in trouble with your landlord! Wow times were different 😂 and YES!! I completely agree with you! Not showing the murder scene in Rope would have made the movie so much more intriguing!!
@@MoviesWithMia But Rope and Rear Window are two completely different films. In Rope the protagonists are the killers, while in Rear Window the protagonists are the people trying to solve the crime. We are supposed to solve the case here, while in Rope the tension comes from the question if the killers get caught. That is the brilliant twist about Rope, making the viewer complicit, turning James Stewart in an antagonist whom we still want to win. Not making it clear if a crime had even been committed in Rope would have made it a completely different - and in my opinion less interesting - movie.
@@MoviesWithMia It may have been a bit different in the US, but not much I would guess. In the UK, having someone stay overnight could get you thrown out, because the landlord (or landlady) wouldn't want their house to be seen to be a place where such goings on were encouraged. It was often a house rule that the tenant couldn't have overnight guests. Much stricter times before morals went to hell in a handcart ;-)
All true about public morals, but it's also true that people weren't stupid. As long as one observed the proprieties, many people really didn't care what went on in private. The difference is that people now demand public acceptance, even celebration, of their behaviour regardless of what it is. From an anthropological perspective one can argue the merits of either approach or of something in between.
I disagree with the criticism of "Rope". The long running TV-movie series "Columbo" almost always opened with us watching a murderer plan and execute the crime. There's a reason it was such a popular show.
@@anhistorian7255 I imagine it was that way because most people rented their own homes as boarding houses and the “guest” was not vetted, so it’s also a security issue.
My favourite Hitchcock movie bar none. The dialogue is flawless, the acting is great, and the premise is so breathtakingly original (despite being based on a book). Plus the camera-work was excellent, keeping us in Stewart's POV for 99% of the time, constantly keeping us doubting what we think we know.
Glad you had such a great time with it.
And that entire courtyard set was simply amazing! With a nicely rendered and well-lighted matte painting background to really complete the sell.
It was based on a short story.
I first saw Thelma Ritter in "All About Eve" -- a sassy servant role, but paired with Bette Davis in exceptional movie.
Her very first movie role, an uncredited one in Miracle on 34th Street, is how I first saw her. Even though it was just a minute or so, she was very memorable!
Of the many excellences of this superb achievement I find myself most in awe over the use of sound. The pastel shadings of sound wafting through the apartment - an assortment of music from many genres.
And of course that magnificent set.
How about the songwriter's progression from starting to write, getting frustrated, completing the song, and finally having a recording made which he plays for his newfound friend "Miss Lonelyhesrts". Did you catch the name of the song at the very end - "Lisa", which just happens to play over the last shot as we watch Lisa Fremont reading a book about the Himalayas, then switching to a glamour magazine. I think that's just wonderful beyond words.
Trivia: When Jeff is on the phone early on, the music that Miss Torso is dancing to was written by Leonard Bernstein as part of a ballet back in the '40's called "Fancy Free". Also, when the dog is being lowered (the first time, during the day), composer Franz Waxman stole some music from his own previous film score for "A Place In The Sun". BTW that's a great movie - Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters. Hint hint.....
Don't know if it's been mentioned here but all the actors we see through the windows were fitted with flesh tone earpieces so that Hitchcock could direct them via radio. Very clever, especially for the panning shots of all the neighbors since they couldn't see each other.
Years ago, before moving to Florida, we had a lovely garden on W 89 & CPW. We entertained there often. One day, on a movie line, a man came up and said "What a great party that was." We didn't know who he was and it turned out he overlooked our garden from W 90. Very Rear Window.
Jeffries knew he was dialing long distance because back in 1954 you had to call the operator and give them the number you wanted to reach. And in 1954 people didn't openly stay overnight with their boyfriend/girlfriend. It was a don't ask don't tell situation.
I'm enjoying your passion for old movies. So few people react to old classics, especially if they are not in color.
Having built the apartment building in a warehouse,Hitchcock directed the actors via radio. I also wonder how many men wanted to be in James Stewart's place during the movie?
As an ancient relic I am going to relate a couple insights about what we saw of Raymond Burr's character: The new looking shirts he was packing are shirts received back from the cleaners, many if not most people, especially in apartments did not have a wash machine in 1954, so they often had their laundry done. The sequence of numbers recognized by James Stewart's character, dialed by the murderer was a familiar one, to get a long distance operator, you dialed these numbers rather than "O" for operator... direct long distance dialing was not possible until AT&T invented computerized charging for dialed numbers. I really love your viewing of these classic masterpieces; and there are so many more to watch, such as the older Marlene Dietrich movies made in the early 30's. I will continue to watch your viewings.
Love your reactions can you react to the man who knew too much also with jimmy stewart
Thanks for reacting to this. It is one of my favorites. Have you covered "North by Northwest". You need to understand the conditions people before the 60s lived in. Very little TV available, no private sized air conditioning so summer meant open windows and maybe a fan. Generally in town an open garden space was allowed for between the buildings for airflow and heat dissipation.
Notice how nobody in this housing bloc seems to own a TV set yet, which only became available for private use a few years earlier. Watching the neighbours would have been a major temptation especially for someone who was bored and on the verge of developing cabin fever.
This was filmed during a record breaking heat wave made worse by the number of huge lights. Hitch needed that many to make it bright as daylight. It got so hot the fire sprinklers went off and at one point Hitch gave everyone four days off to recover.
This film is an acid test. Not of if you should be watching movies, because everyone should be. But if you're someone when they TALK about movies, if you should be taken seriously.
It's not a complicated film. Even the mystery isn't much of a mystery. But the visual language is SO advanced, so compelling, if someone sees it and just says they found it boring...
Such a masterpiece, this is my favorite Hitchcock film EVER!!
This is actually my all time favorite Hitchcock movie.
10 out of 10 - it deserves nothing less. Watching your reaction was like watching another window in that apartment block as you slowly realised it wasn't the honeymoon couple but actually Lars who had done the dirty deed!
You really do not know what a cool bath for my senses it was to hear an American say "different *from"* instead of "different *than".* Bless you, bless you, lassie!"
xxx 🇬🇧
Ooooo, next week, North by Northwest! My all-time favorite Hitchcock, and all-time favorite Cary Grant film!
The lawsuit story is interesting to me. I never saw disturbia, but I did meet Spielberg in a restaurant once way before disturbia was made. I went up to him and asked him what would you suggest for a young kid who is interested in film do. Should I go to film school etc… he’s said “study Rear window by Alfred Hitchcock and you will learn everything four years of film school can teach you” so I don’t know if he stole the idea or whatever but he obviously holds that film in super high regard.
Are you doing the Noirvember Challenge, Mia? If you are, i recommend Out of the Past (1947). As for Rear Window, it's so good, i absolute love Grace and Jimmy ( he got better and better and he grew older, in every sense, even got more and more handsome) but i'm such a Thelma Ritter fan as well, she was amazing. Raymond Burr was very good too. Hitch just knew how to make them. Such a brilliant body of work.
Yeah, that’s our next series! Though, I didn’t know it was a challenge… what is the challenge? Now I want to try it!! Thank you for your recommendation!! I will check it out!
Out of the Past, known in Britain as Build my Gallows High, is a great recommendation. I'd urge you to react to it Mia.
@@MoviesWithMia Awesome! Oh, i wrote noirvember challenge because of habit ( do it among some classic movies friends) but should just have asked if you're watching Noirs and in November. The challenge changes depending on forums and classic movies fans groups. The one i'm part is with real life friends and it's 30 days of November becomes 30 days Noirvember, a noir per day, but it varies, other groups watch 1 for week, some 60 movies for the month, so knowing you're doing your noirvember month is already amazing. As long as one watches noirs in noirvember, being 1 or 100, it's already cool. haha Thank you for the reactions and i can't wait to see your choices. English is not my first language ( I'm brazilian) so excuse the mistakes.
Out of the Past is such a good choice - almost anything with Robert Mitchum is a good choice.
I’m a wristwatch fanatic. Jimmy Stewart wore a Tissot in this film. What a coincidence. I wore mine today to work!!! 👍
Wow! That is amazing!! What a coincidence!
Now you most definitely need to watch Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day in Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" Also Doris in"Midnight Lace". Thelma Ritter is a great character actress. She is in several comedy movies with Doris Day. "Pillow Talk"(Rock Hudson) & "The Thrill of it All"(James Garner).
Bing Crosby singing "To See You is To Love You" -beautiful.My favorite Hitchcock film
This is my favorite movie of all time. I can re-watch repeatedly and never get tired of it.
BTW, there's an episode of Castle that paid homage to this movie and it was very enjoyable for a Rare Window fan.
I cant wait to watch north by northwest and psycho I'm looking forward to
Hitchcock made the audience use their imagination. That is more riveting than being shown everything.
Grace Kelly is the most beautiful woman in the history of the universe!!!
Well said !!!!
Fun fact: The Albert Hotel, to which Jeff lures Thorwold to get him out of the apartment, is not only a real place in this neighborhood in NYC, but it still exists. It's called The Albert Apartments now.
Another great mystery from the 40s is the black and white film Laura. The twist is unbelievable. Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews.
So now we all know there's a twist in "Laura". Show a little restraint, people... these "old" films are still brand new to most people, including our host. It is though, another argument for Mia leaving her research for after she has watched. So easy to get spoiled on the intertubes.
Love to see your reactions to "North by Northwest" and "To Catch a Thief," both fantastic Hitchcock extravaganzas - plus "To Catch a Thief" is a splendid 1950s visual feast!!!
Rear Window is just great. If you like Grace Kelley you'll love To Catch A Thief.
To Catch a Thief, I think, is the most exotic of the Hitchcock films.
That is a great request!! The fashion of Grace Kelley is wonderful! Please react to the movie!
YES ! Grace Kelly never looked so Beautiful .
👁 👁
👄
I loved how you completely misread the actions of the 'newlyweds'. ;-)
@ 6:20 Not gonna lie, every time I see this, I think the bathing beauty sitting there is Alfred Hitchcock doing his cameo in drag! What an enjoyable review. I love all the waffling back and forth about who the killer could be, it made me chuckle. p.s.: I'm watching with my trusty handbag, who enjoyed the video too. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review "The Bad Seed" from 1956 about a killer little girl. THANKS!
This video was so much fun! I have watched this movie of like 100 times and I never knew that Hitchcock was actually in the film. I visited universal and went to a Hitchcock experience. And they had a set piece that gave you the perspective from his view where you can look into every window and I think they had like a little movie playing in each window it was pretty cool. Great fun! Thanks for sharing!!!
Envious. Huge Alfred fan.
Hitchcock made a point of appearing in all his films. Just for a moment.
Sometimes all you need is to be a professional photographer to elevate your status from "creepy voyeur" to "someone who observes people".
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Fun fact: "Lars" was played by Raymond Burr - best known for playing iconic TV lawyer Perry Mason. The popularity of Perry Mason seems to have overshadowed his second most iconic role - "Chief" Robert T. Ironside, a former police detective who for 8 seasons
...
(wait for it....)
solved crimes from his wheelchair.
Another Hitchcock film you might want to look at is 'Shadow of a Doubt.'
Hitchcock considered it his favorite film.
I totally agree with you about Thelma Ritter. Have you watched All About Eve? She's amazing in that, in a hell of a cast.
Cary Grant was in Hitchcock 3x so was Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.
Kelly was in To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Dial M for Murder with Ray Milland. To Catch a Thief was filmed on the French Riviera. Kelly was asked to do a photo shoot in nearby Monaco where she met her future husband. Hitchcock wanted Grace Kelly for the role of Marnie in the early 60s but it didn't give a good look. Sorry this is so long. Loved your reaction.
Cary Grant and James Stewart both made four Hitchcock movies. The Man Who Knew to Much stars Stewart, and Suspicion with Joan Fountain with Cary Grant are probably the two movies that you missed
Coupla things to mention: This set was the talk of the town in 1954. Paramount had lured Hitchcock in a multi-film deal from Warner Brothers and bent over backwards to please him on this first film for them. They actually dug through the cement of their largest soundstage to create a basement and created this four story set, complete with drainage and sprinklers to simulate rain. Each apartment had its own ;lighting and microphone so Hitchcock could give direction from across the courtyard. Brilliant. Criminal that the set design was overlooked by the Academy. The.other remarkable thing was the music score by Franz Waxman. The jazzy title theme was to suggest the jazz scene of the lower village where this takes place, but beside the song "created" by the musician, they are the only original pieces of music. The rest is diegetic -- originating from the source, as if playing from radios or the street . Notice especially the diabolical tongue-in-cheek choice of the Rogers & Hart standard "Lover" on the rainy night the murderer takes the body out of the apartment. Paramount owned the rights this from a 1932 Jeanette McDonald film. They also used "To See You is to Love You" for Miss Lonelyhearts sung by Bing Crosby in a 1952 Paramount Road picture. The other Paramount owned song used is "Mona Lisa" that won the Academy Award from a long-forgotten 1950 Paramount movie called "Captain Carey, USA".
"Captain Carey, USA" may be forgotten, but the song "Mona Lisa" is very much alive and well. It was a big hit for Nat King Cole, among others, and was the inspiration for the very nice 1986 Bob Hoskins movie of the same name. If anyone hasn't seen that one, it's worth the watch.
@@paintedjaguar Yes...it's the movie I said was forgotten. As I mentioned, the song won the Oscar that year.
Mia - if you listen again carefully, I believe the Thelma Ritter character says at the end, "No thanks, I don't want any part of •HER•!" She doesn't put a lot of stress on the last word, so there's an outside possibility that she did say, "it" (the situation). But then she gives the camera a look - and you realize that she probably did say, "her" - and perhaps Stella has just realized (again) that the victim they're talking about has (presumably) been cut into pieces. So Stella saying "her" would work better as conveying a double-meaning: 1) I don't want to go near any of the victim's body parts, and 2) I don't want to spend any more mental energy observing or thinking about her murder-situation. :)
@tranya327
Yes. It's a great joke!
I suggest to at some point check out High Society (1956). It’s a semi musical remake of The Philadelphia Story starring Grace Kelly. I don’t think it’s that good. But it’s an interesting watch for comparison sake, especially if you’re a Grace Kelly fan, and it contains some good songs.
This is easily my favorite Hitchcock film - so glad you're reviewing it : )
Raymond Burr who played Lars Thorwald also played Perry Mason on a long running TV show which started shortly after this movie was released. He was also in the American version of Godzilla as a reporter in Japan.
Mia you have to see Jimmy Stewart in the 1950s Hitchcock movie The Man Who Knew Too Much - set in North Africa and Europe.
Jimmy Stewart's character knows that Lars Thorwald is dialing long-distance, because, back then, for long-distance phone calls, people dialed 10 digits, but for local calls, without an area-code, they dialed only 7 digits. Today, both local and long-distance numbers use 11 digits, including the 1.
You should consider watching "Cat People" with Simone Simon, "The Ghost and Mrs Muir " with Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison, "Bachelor Mother" with Ginger Rogers and David Niven, and/or "Miracle of Morgan's Creek" with Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken. The last two are good ones for Christmastime. For Noirs in November, Gaslight, Laura, and Leave Her to Heaven are good options.
Very good suggestions, every one.
I believe that Hitchcoks movie "Saboteur" is the first place we see Hitch do his fall from a high place shot.
Good reaction and I love that you are visiting these great classics. However, I wish you wouldn't read the synopsis or trivia until *after* you watch the film. I think it hurt your viewing experience on this one. The question you should be asking during the movie is whether Lars killed his wife or not, whether we are interpreting his actions correctly. Instead, you were more looking for *who* killed their wife as opposed to whether a wife was killed. :)
I think after watching Vertigo, I was waiting for the big plot twist. But the beautiful thing about Hitchcock is that he still knows how to get you, even by not doing anything spectacular! Also, I don’t think having the facts at the end of the video would make much of a difference considering that I would still be doing all of the research before actually watching the movie. So, regardless of where the facts are in the video, they are still known to me during the reaction.
@@MoviesWithMia I was thinking that you should do the research after watching the movies because in your reactions you seem to know too much about the film while watching. I don’t know about others, but I’d like it a little better if you went in blind and then had all the trivia and behind the scenes stuff after.
I appreciate your opinion, Kevy Nova. I have thought about this long and hard and considered all the feedback, which is quite divided. I really enjoy knowing the historical background before going into the film. It makes the watching experience more worth it for me. So, I am going to continue adding the historical background and interesting facts in the beginning of the reactions.
@@MoviesWithMia I’ll keep watching either way because I am enjoying your videos. The only part that annoys me at all is when you obviously know more about the movie than you probably should but that’s just my opinion. I do look forward to your videos, especially the Twilight Zone ones because it’s my favorite show and I’ve seen every episode multiple times.
Another example of Hitchcock's brilliant direction is the repeated panorama of the courtyard from composer's studio apartment all the way to newlyweds' room. And finally pan into Jeff's apartment with Jeff watching the neighbors. Then Hitchcock starts tricking us by panning into Jeff's apartment but Jeff isn't watching the neighbors. We are watching the neighbors Thus making the audience the voyeur. Love it!
Back then local calls you only dialed, 7 digits, if you were doing a
Long distance calls, outside the area code, you had to dial 1 first, then the area code. When he dialed 1 that let him know it was long distance
There isn't so much mystery to this one, it's quite straightforward. That's probably why it's so popular with many requesting reactions. Good but there's more intriguing Hitchcock.
This is a true classic. I love how you see everything through Jimmy Stewart's eyes. The Camera hardly ever leaves his bedroom and doesn't show too much but still creates feelings or horror and dread. Now I have to watch this movie again.
The thing about rear window as much as Hitchcock wants to make you think you are looking into the outside its obviously not the case, its composed inside a set. The give away is that with all windows open ,lights on and no bugs , still Hitch has you in a daze believing you are looking outside.
North by Northwest was the first time I ever saw Cary Grant. He’s as charming as ever, and I was a fan after that.
Your enthusiasm for older films is great!!
If it gets a few younger film lovers to not ignore everything older than Star Wars then you have done a great service.
Thank you so much, TW 😁
LOVE YOUR WORK. Your comments are funny. One quick little mystery for you on “Rear Window”, what do “His Kind of Woman, Godzilla and Perry Mason “ have in common with this movie. Small it’s an actor. He was essential to Rear Window.
Hope you go for it Sherlock.