Rear Window - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Rear Window or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Rear Window

[nina]

Ranked #3 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Mystery" in June 2008.

[wallace]

One thousand arc lights were used to simulate sunlight. Thanks to extensive pre-lighting of the set, the crew could make the changeover from day to night in under forty-five minutes.

[kim]

Grace Kelly may have been a bit too beautiful and friendly, at least for the Paramount Pictures publicity department and James Stewart's wife. Known privately as a sexually free young woman, Kelly often had affairs with her leading men, and she made everyone nervous by confessing to gossip columnists that she found Stewart one of the most masculinely attractive men she ever met.

[kim]

A major influence on other thrillers, Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984) and Phillip Noyce's Sliver (1993) are two notable examples that reveal a debt to this movie.

[scarlett]

A bit of prop trickery had to be used when Stella pulls out the binoculars from their leather case hanging on the wall. That brand fits extremely tight within the carrying case, and even creates a vacuum when extracted. She could never have pulled them out with one hand and have the case remain stationary as depicted.

[amber]

To accommodate the enormous set, a higher ceiling was required. Sir Alfred Hitchcock had the production company tear out the entire floor of the studio, revealing the basement. What the audience sees as the courtyard was originally the basement level of the studio.

[caroline]

The size of the set necessitated excavation of the soundstage floor. Thus Jeff's apartment was actually at street level.

[christina]

One of the first examples to firmly establish the auteur theory. Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window is proudly displayed in the opening credits, creating the unmistakable belief that this movie could have only come from Hitchcock's mind and no one else's.

[edgar]

One of the photographs on the wall in Jeff's (James Stewart's) apartment in this movie is a photograph of him standing in front of a aircraft during World War II. Mr. Stewart served active duty as a U.S. Army Air Forces pilot during the war, flying missions as a B-24 pilot.

[marc]

In addition to Patrick Mahon, Sir Alfred Hitchcock noted in the modern interview that the 1910 case of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen also served as an inspiration for this movie. Crippen, an American living in London, poisoned his wife and cut up her body, then told police that she had moved to Los Angeles. Crippen was eventually caught after his secretary, with whom he was having an affair, was seen wearing Mrs. Crippen's jewelry, and a family friend searched unsuccessfully for Mrs. Crippen in California. After Scotland Yard became involved, Crippen and his mistress fled England under false names and were apprehended on an ocean liner. Police found parts of Mrs. Crippen's body in her cellar.

[veronica]

In addition to the song "Lisa," which was written for this film and is not sung until the very end, two other tunes are heard in the course of the film: A calliope version of Dean Martin's then recent hit "That's Amore" (playing in the courtyard early in the film) and, on the evening when the little dog is found dead, "Mona Lisa" (heard in a sing-along version performed by the guests at a party hosted by Stewart's song-writing neighbor).

[russell]

Body count: two (Thorwald's wife and the neighbor's dog).

[carl]

Despite big box-office success and four Oscar nominations, the film failed to score a best picture Oscar nomination, any acting nominations, or (most surprisingly) a nomination for the fantastic set design.

[ruby]

There are several explanations for why Jeff is the only neighbor to notice the scream from the Thorwald's apartment: it's shown to be late at night, so the fire escape couple, their upstairs neighbors, are already asleep, Miss Torso, their next door neighbor, is out with her guests, and Jeff remarks the next day that he watched their downstairs neighbor, Miss Lonelyhearts, cry herself to sleep. As for other neighbors who share the courtyard, the nosy artist Miss Hearing Aid would have removed her hearing device before going to bed, and of the ones who might still be awake, the composer is out drinking, and the newlyweds are "indisposed."

[addison]

Sir Alfred Hitchcock gave Georgine Darcy free range to choreograph her own dance moves for her character, Miss Torso. Darcy was to dance on her own volition during filming. Hitchcock's only restriction was that he forbade her to take professional dance lessons, as he wanted her to maintain the imprecision of an amateur dancer.

[tammy]

By the time the movie went before the cameras, Sir Alfred Hitchcock had dropped more than one hundred fifty pounds, and was at perhaps the happiest stage of his life and career. "I was feeling very creative", he later told François Truffaut. "The batteries were well-charged."

[janice]

Director Sir Alfred Hitchcock spent a great deal of time with costume designer Edith Head on Grace Kelly's look, which was characteristic of his often obsessive relationship with his leading ladies. One costume he fretted over was the negligee Lisa wears to spend the night at Jeff's. He quietly pulled Head aside and suggested falsies to give Kelly a bustier look. Head and Kelly, however, made only a few changes in costume construction and posture. Hitchcock was fooled into thinking Kelly had been padded, and approved the look.

[brent]

DIRECTOR_CAMEO(Alfred Hitchcock (At around twenty-five minutes) Winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment. The songwriter is real-life songwriter Ross Bagdasarian, creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

[sophie]

Sir Alfred Hitchcock supposedly hired Raymond Burr to play Lars Thorwald because he could be easily made to look like his old producer David O. Selznick, who Hitchcock felt interfered too much.