Typically I would write a post about a Movie I Should’ve Watched Sooner with arbitrary questions I would usually presume too prevalent to the film I am here to discuss. However, on watching Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window for the first time recently I feel as though a more reactionary post would befit the emotions I currently feel.

Without the hyperbole, I can honestly say Rear Window is one of the finest examples of how a movie could and should be made. I know this isn’t anything new, and I am fully aware of the litany of praise surrounding more or less anything with Alfred Hitchcock’s name attached to it. However, it has not been until recently that the feverish need to appreciate his craft is so necessary for what I realistically wish to achieve.

Watching a Film has always been simple – just ask the people at my work that have seen me reading David Thompson’s wonderful “How To Watch A Movie”. You sit down, dim the lights and behold the splendor (or lack thereof in certain cases) of the light show presented to you.

However sadly Movies today lack that totalitarian touch so warmly provided by movie makers of the “Golden Age of Cinema”. With an abundance of thriving platforms in which budding artists can produce their work these days, it is no real shock that the dilution of skill is growing greater and greater. This was obviously not the case during the 1950s. Directors such as Hitchcock, Ford, and Wyler had their own personal opinion on how these moving images should be presented to the world, producing epics such as Rear Window, The Searchers, and Ben Hur respectively.

On watching Rear Window for the first time it is both enlightening and disheartening to think how far cinema has risen and fallen in such a relatively limited period of time. Hitchcock’s intricate intimacy of the carefully constructed courtyard provides seclusion and security while never straying too far from the grander scale of the events surrounding it. His use of light and sound provide intrigue and interest while never wondering into the realms of lunacy.
As I’ve said, everything I’m saying has been said once, twice, twenty times over. However people still flock to see visual detritus like Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean causing billions of dollars to be generated for something that is essentially 3 hours of bright lights and loud noises. Now before anyone comments about the movies I’ve personally reviewed, the majority of moviegoers will read my thoughts on Doctor Strange or Kong, but only a select niche will truly consider reading an opinion on a film over 60 years old – not like you though, you’ve made it this far and thankfully it’s nearly over!

Movies of the “Golden Age” for the longest time were considered too good to miss, yet somehow I had. This is a mistake I keenly intend to rectify, a philosophy I urge anyone reading this to do also. Let’s enjoy film for the skill, not for how big it’s balls are.