1. Lars Thorwald Takes Ridiculously Slow Steps For Absolutely No Reason Whilst He's Being Flashed - Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Widow tells the story of L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (Jimmy Stewart), a war photographer whose latest assignment ends in a broken leg; he's confined to his New York apartment (and a wheelchair) so he can heal up for a few months. An inquisitive man by nature, Jeffries soon finds himself obsessed with staring out of his window and into the courtyard of his building, where he begins to find entertainment in the lives of his fellow occupants. Soon enough, though, Jeffries begins to suspect that something isn't quite right in the apartment directly across from him - has the tenant, one Lars Thorwald, murdered his wife? Jeffries' existence is soon focused entirely around this suspicion, and he enlists his girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) and his housekeeper Stella (Thelma Ritter) to help him solve the case. After much deliberation, it turns out that yes, Lars Thorwald did kill his wife after all, but whilst Lisa is snooping around his apartment, Thorwald spots Jeff peeking and makes his way across the yard to get some revenge. As Thorwald enters, Jeffries comes up with the apparently genius idea of switching off all the lights and using the flash of his camera to stop Thorwald from getting at him - as the great, burly murderer enters Jeffries' apartment, he sets off the camera flashbulbs, temporarily stunning him. Each time Thorwald begins to move towards our wheelchair-bound hero, Jeff flashes off another bulb, stopping him from moving. Thorwald does eventually grab Jeff anyway, but the whole "bulb flash thing" - the most famous part of the ending - ultimately feels badly devised. Which is to say, Thorwald's great, bumbling reactions to being blinded over and over again (like some goofy incarnation of Frankenstein's monster) seem out of place - anybody else would have just moved forwards to attack, regardless of being flashed. The ending set piece, then, neat as it is, can't help a feeling contrived - which is odd, given that Rear Window's final scenes are often lauded as being some of the best and most tense in the entire Hitchcock canon. Like this article? Got anything to add? Let us know in the comments section below.
