9. Rear Window
Keeping with Hitchcock, his astute study of voyeurism takes great effort to turn a snooping neighbour into a sympathetic character. After breaking his leg covering a racetrack accident, photographer L.B Jeff Jefferies (James Stewart), is bound to a wheelchair and a bout of window-gazing. Looking out into his courtyard, he sees snippets of his neighbours lives through their windows; a party here, a suspected murder thereOverhearing an argument- and later a scream- emerge from the Thorwald residence leads Jefferies to believe Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) has killed his wife and is now frantically hiding the evidence. As Lars is seen cleaning a large knife and then a handsaw, so Jefferies takes to his binoculars and telephoto lens for closer inspection. While he wanes by the window like a houseplant, his interest in those around him borders on the obsessive; before the signs of foul play, hes suitably distracted by the young ballerina (whom he nicknames Miss Torso) who dances on her balcony. Yet Jefferies is never quite presented as a lecher; indeed, the crime gives him a reason to switch off the lights and stare down the telescope. In 2007, D.J Caruso rehashed this plot for 'Disturbia', casting Shia LaBeouf in Stewarts shoes in a bid to rejuvenate the Fifties classic. But, rather like the Thorwald window, audiences saw straight through it.