Hitchcocks 1954 masterwork posits Jimmy Stewarts character as a voyeur, cooped up in his New York City apartment with a broken leg, staring through his neighbors windows just as we do at the movie screen. But Rear Window is also a love story. Stewart rebuffs his society girlfriend (Grace Kelly) with casual disdain, saying shes too perfect for him. Fortunately, our heroine is more than a match for her recalcitrant beau. She does the legwork for his amateur sleuthing, while he just watches. Kelly remakes herself into a woman of action, thereby increasing her allureand subverting Stewarts view of her. In Rear Window, all the neighbors courtyard stories-within-a-story are greatly enhanced, and all comment directly both on the love story and the expertly made thriller. (NR) BRIAN MILLER
Fri., Feb. 12, 11:59 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 13, 11:59 p.m., 2010
