# Rear Window -- on the big screen
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 23, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730 "2015-03-23T00:33:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/1 "2015-03-23T00:33:17Z")
TCM presented _Rear Window_ in several theatres today. (It’s also playing this Wednesday, the 25th.) What a treat! We never realised there was so much music in it, and we enjoyed seeing the details on the sets.
The best part of the film was when Jimmy Stewart got out his flash unit and flash bulbs. A young boy in the audience said, ‘What’s that, daddy?’ 😃
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### Author:  [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/2 "2015-03-23T01:02:00Z")
Was it in black and or color ? Turner is destroying all the classic b & m movies
by making them in color! I love b & m movies and hate to see them being messed with by Turner .
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/3 "2015-03-23T01:07:28Z")
_Rear Window_ was shot in Eastmancolor, and the prints were in Techincolor.
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/4 "2015-03-23T01:14:46Z")
Rear Window was shot in color. It was Grace Kelly’s best film, in my opinion. Jimmy Stewart plays Hitch’s alter ego and is just creepy as hell. Raymond Burr’s character, by comparison, was at least understandable, despite having only a few lines.
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### Author:  [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/5 "2015-03-23T02:32:07Z")
We saw it a couple decades ago when it was in the big theater, then later on television. It’s amazing how much detail there was on the scenes of the other balconies, something you couldn’t see on TV.
Yes, the bright flash bulbs were really cool in a dark theater.
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### Author:  [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/6 "2015-03-23T14:08:14Z")
It was filmed on a studio set but awhile back, I read that it was based on an actual courtyard/backyard/whatever you call it in Greenwich Village I think. Here’s an [article](http://nypost.com/2014/08/06/inside-the-real-greenwich-village-apartment-that-inspired-rear-window/), the pictures aren’t very good though.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/7 "2015-03-23T14:47:05Z")
Although I grew up watching Rear Window on Saturday Night at the Movies, I got to see it and four other Hitchcock films on the Big Screen when they re-released them, in restored versions, to theaters in 1983. Besides Rear Window, they released Rope, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much (the color version, with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, but no Peter Lorre), and Vertigo.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/8 "2015-03-23T17:34:30Z")
> [@purplehearingaid](#):
>
> Was it in black and or color ? Turner is destroying all the classic b & m movies
> by making them in color! I love b & m movies and hate to see them being messed with by Turner .
Did this post teleport in from the 90s? For while it may have been closer to being true two decades ago, it is not even remotely accurate now.
Turner Classic Movies is the single best source of uncut, non-commercial classic movie watching of any cable network anywhere. They never show colorized films, and never cut for time, content, or ads.
Are there still colorized films available for sale out there on the internet? Sure, you can find them on DVD (mostly films in public domain, so don’t blame Turner). But they are hardly mainstream and while the technology to do it has improved, it’s generally been demonstrated that most people have rejected these options and it is not what anyone would call a lucrative revenue stream. Colorization was a fad that hasn’t completely died, but is hardly a danger or threat to any film anywhere anymore.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/9 "2015-03-23T17:43:39Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#):
>
> Did this post teleport in from the 90s? For while it may have been closer to being true two decades ago, it is not even remotely accurate now.
>
> Turner Classic Movies is the single best source of uncut, non-commercial classic movie watching of any cable network anywhere. They never show colorized films, and never cut for time, content, or ads.
>
> Are there still colorized films available for sale out there on the internet? Sure, you can find them on DVD (mostly films in public domain, so don’t blame Turner). But they are hardly mainstream and while the technology to do it has improved, it’s generally been demonstrated that most people have rejected these options and it is not what anyone would call a lucrative revenue stream. Colorization was a fad that hasn’t completely died, but is hardly a danger or threat to any film anywhere anymore.
Not completely – Ray Harryhausen supervised colorizations of the 1935 film **She** and of H.G. wells’ **Things to Come**. Harryhausen is on record as generally hating colorization, but She was _supposed_ to be a color film that got its funding severel reduced just before production, so he felt he was restoring what was rightfully its due. I haven’t seen his Things to Come, so I don’t know his rationalization there. But these were done circa 2008, so this isn’t exactly ancient history.
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### Author:  [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/10 "2015-03-23T20:28:36Z")
I had never seen the original Rear Window. We saw it last night in the theater. I thought it was a decent movie, and very good by 1950’s standards. However, I didn’t feel much suspense in it. I guess I’ve gotten too jaded by recent movies, where twists happen too regularly. This movie was pretty straightforward. You could pretty much predict what was going to happen.
On the other hand, the acting – especially by Jimmy Stewart – was pretty good. I also really wasn’t aware how gorgeous Grace Kelly was. I didn’t really see how they could be together, with so little in common.
J.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/11 "2015-03-23T20:35:02Z")
Grace Kelly’s first appearance in the film, an extreme close-up as she closes in to kiss a dozing-off Stewart, has got to be one of the most erotic images in the whole history of Hollywood. I swear, I’m gay and yet I get excited seeing zoom into view. Whew!
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/12 "2015-03-23T20:43:11Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#):
>
> Grace Kelly’s first appearance in the film, an extreme close-up as she closes in to kiss a dozing-off Stewart, has got to be one of the most erotic images in the whole history of Hollywood. I swear, I’m gay and yet I get excited seeing zoom into view. Whew!
If you look at the end credits for the restored version of Rear Window (the one done for the 1983 re-release I mention above), they have specifically given credits for the people who worked on restoring this very scene.
I don’t know of any other restored film where they call out a particular scene like that.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2015, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/13 "2015-06-13T07:39:40Z")
I saw it last night at our local community theatre which is doing a Hitch marathon.
Its just simply amazing. All the twists and turns have been parodied and copied so often over the last 60 odd years, yet they still appear fresh.
[QUOTE=Don Draper]
Grace Kelly’s first appearance in the film, an extreme close-up as she closes in to kiss a dozing-off Stewart, has got to be one of the most erotic images in the whole history of Hollywood. I swear, I’m gay and yet I get excited seeing zoom into view. Whew!
[/QUOTE]
Sexuality and Gender is no excuse not to love Grace Kelly. 😃
If she wants her way with you, you simply enthusiastically consent and thank the universe for such beauty.
😉
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/14 "2015-06-13T15:24:03Z")
One thing I hadn’t noticed before was that that shot was slowed down.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/15 "2015-06-13T16:03:53Z")
Yeah, great film. I normally hate Jimmy Stewart as an actor, but not in this film. Hitchcock was a genius!
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/16 "2015-06-13T17:08:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Yeah, great film. I normally hate Jimmy Stewart as an actor, but not in this film. Hitchcock was a genius!
May I ask what it is about Stewart that you dont like?
I know some people say he’s to aww-shucks but have they seen Vertigo? Or the above mentioned Rear Window? They are very dark complex roles.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/17 "2015-06-13T17:09:04Z")
I liked him best in _Strategic Air Command_. (Well, him and the B-36s and B-47s.)
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/18 "2015-06-13T17:27:13Z")
> [@madsircool](#):
>
> May I ask what it is about Stewart that you dont like?
>
> I know some people say he’s to aww-shucks but have they seen Vertigo? Or the above mentioned Rear Window? They are very dark complex roles.
The aww-shucks is a big part of it, and his voice is often like fingernails on a blackboard for me.
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/19 "2015-06-13T17:39:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> The aww-shucks is a big part of it, and his voice is often like fingernails on a blackboard for me.
OK I see that. Thank you for responding. Maybe watch his films dubbed in a foreign language? 😛
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rear-window-on-the-big-screen/715730/20 "2015-06-13T17:40:47Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I liked him best in _Strategic Air Command_. (Well, him and the B-36s and B-47s.)
Did you like Flight of the Phoenix?
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