A Few Words About A few words about...™ Rear Window -- in Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[cannon1]

Semantics and choice of words aside, I still don't think the magazine cover (a professional assignment) indicates so very much about Jeff without the viewer bringing lots of presumption and imagination. The subject would go on a date with him without hesitation? Wha-??


I don't even know how we got into this sidebar. He's got a big stack of copies of this fashion magazine, which seems out of character. ... I think once upon a time, I presumed it might indicate how he met Lisa (the assignment), if their affair is something recent (It "feels" like it is).

From what I have read about Hitchcock's working methods, I don't believe he would expect the viewer to necessarily bring lots of presumption and imagination about such a detail....but they would be important to him. He always said everything had to have a purpose and a reason for being there, or out it goes. I think that's where the interest lies here, if one finds it interesting, which I personally do....what thought process may have gone into the significance of that prop. The average viewer...nah...but that was Hichcock's art, and fun from what I gathered. This point is illustrated well by the final screenwriter to work with the man, Daved Freeman, in his article/book, "The Last Days of Alfred Hichcock".

 

[ChromeJob]

That's correct. I simply disagree with you on your conclusions.

 

[rich_d]

Another bit of trivia about Rear Window... I had mentioned this mysterious flash over on IMDB, but no one knows what it was:


Right after the titles, as the camera slowly pans over the entire courtyard set for the very first time, you'll see a flash in one of the rooms---it's in the very uppermost apartment. Looks kind of like a flash photograph was being taken, or else a light bulb burned out/exploded. Does anyone have any idea what this was? I'm assuming it was an on-set problem, and not meant to be part of the film.

The flash comes from the apartment of the two sunbathing girls. You could presume that the girls are sunbathing in the nude. Heck, you could even wonder whether it's something more. You could further presume that perhaps one is taking photographs of the other (or each other) prior to this activity. One could even wonder about their relationship. Naturally, it may not be Hitch's intent, but I wouldn't put it past Hitch to want to put such an idea past the censors. Would you?

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Fascinating to read all the hypotheses about the basis of Jefferies' curmudgeonly attitude to life .. as someone who spent far too much of my early life confined to bed, I read into it only the natural crankiness that comes from being imprisoned by a non-cooperative body. For an active man, that would be enough to cause such crankiness and temporary blindness to the bliss which beckons in the shape of the seductive Kelly....

 

[cannon1]

Semantics and choice of words aside, I still don't think the magazine cover (a professional assignment) indicates so very much about Jeff without the viewer bringing lots of presumption and imagination. The subject would go on a date with him without hesitation? Wha-??


I don't even know how we got into this sidebar. He's got a big stack of copies of this fashion magazine, which seems out of character. ... I think once upon a time, I presumed it might indicate how he met Lisa (the assignment), if their affair is something recent (It "feels" like it is).

For me the most obvious purpose for the prop would be to visually offer something of an 'explanation' of how Jeffries connected with a woman like Lisa Fremont, seemingly his polar opposite in evident ways, in the first place. He met her in the course of an assignment that she was connected to, a fashion one as evidenced by that photograph/cover. For Hitchcock, that could 'subtly' and visually address the question of how in the world did this guy hook up with somebody so different than himself. To me that's the simplest explanation that makes sense, with Hitchcock wanting to visually complete the 'statement' about Jeffries current life as much as possible in that long, moving shot over his affects. All speculation...but we know Hitchcock liked things to be very 'clear'....as when he told William Devane in 'Family Plot' not to pick the lint off the inspectors jacket and upon Devane's query with as to why not, Hitchcock replied, "Because it's not clear".

 

[ChromeJob]

Spoiler

http://eattarantula.blogspot.com/2011/03/affair-of-robert-capa-and-ingrid.html

http://marywhipplereviews.com/chris-greenhalgh-seducing-ingrid-bergman-sweden-france-hollywood/

While looking these up, and viewing some scenes from the film, I'd forgotten the quiet, distant car horn acting like punctuation when Lisa says, "Top to bottom, Lisa ... [toot!] Carol ... [parp!] Fremont."

 

[cannon1]

Spoiler

http://eattarantula.blogspot.com/2011/03/affair-of-robert-capa-and-ingrid.html

http://marywhipplereviews.com/chris-greenhalgh-seducing-ingrid-bergman-sweden-france-hollywood/

While looking these up, and viewing some scenes from the film, I'd forgotten the quiet, distant car horn acting like punctuation when Lisa says, "Top to bottom, Lisa ... [toot!] Carol ... [parp!] Fremont."

So true...I found it fascinating when I noticed how he'll use utterly unrelated sound effects to 'puncuate' a moment/bit in the action, or a piece of dialogue..it's brilliant, and one of the many technical, but 'hidden' aspects of his technique. It's there, in the films to be discovered, but don't go look for it to be explained in a book...I never found it...

 

[rich_d]

Even the overall sound design in Rear Window, which involved set specific sounds and music are under appreciated in my view. Like the sound of Bing Crosby's "To See You (Is To Love You)" playing on someone's radio or phonograph as heard by Jefferies and the audience through the courtyard. It's not like any of this is novel, per se, it just sets Hitch apart from what his contemporaries were doing in 1954.

 

[Charles Smith]

Boy, does it ever. The more I think about this in regard to Rear Window, the more I realize how I've always appreciated the sound design in Hitch's films.


And I thank you guys for jogging my memory on this -- I'd totally forgotten that I long ago made a photocopy of a page out of a book or magazine article talking about sound design. I remember the library I was in, but not the article itself, and now I'm sorry I didn't copy the entire piece. Here's what they chose to illustrate the extent and detail of sound design. (It's very light, but if you click on it you should be able to read it.)

 

[TravisR]

^ Useless fact: If "Kids chase truck" is what I think it is, it can also be heard in The Exorcist and Halloween.

 

[Reed Grele]

Foley is incredibly important to the overall film design. And I'm sure that Mr. Hitchcock knew exactly where in the film to place each sound effect and at what volume level for the intended impact.


I know why it was necessary, and not to open up another can of worms, but I recall a bit of controversy over the newly created foley for the Vertigo restoration in the late nineties. Whether or not Mr. Hitchcock would have approved, we'll never know. You can't please everyone.

 

[rich_d]

 

[Charles Smith]

That's beautiful.

 

[Reed Grele]

Great Stuff!


But... At the end of the day. Just remember...

 

[Cineman]

Hitchcock and screenwriter John Michael Hayes layer on the concept of Jefferies being interested in sexy women much more at the beginning of Rear Window because later in the film much time will be spent watching or hearing him dismiss sex and/or female sexiness. He will respond rather coolly to Lisa's overt advances, essentially watch her walk out on him without much objection, he will make a snide remark about what is probably going on behind the lowered shades in the newlyweds' apartment, he will totally ignore the disrobing and showering of Miss Torso in favor of focusing on the late night comings and goings of Thorwald and so on. Without Hitch illustrating at least his mild interest in what is going on with the rooftop bathing beauties and encouraging us to infer something about that magazine cover of the delighted Grace Kelly type model well beyond it being just another boring conventional photo assignment, we might be left to assume he is more interested in other men than in women and the attraction for him by Lisa is a one-in-a-million fluke he could never repeat and might never even want to repeat. lol.


One of my favorite hidden dialogue gags comes early in the movie when Thelma Ritter is helping Jefferies get to an upright position after the massage to put on a fresh shirt. They're talking about Lisa. Further, Jefferies is in the process of more or less dismissing Lisa as a suitable partner for him. He says, "I need a woman who can...hold it.." lol. Of course, he is telling Ritter to "hold it" (his arm or whatever) while he struggles to maintain balance. But his saying those words at precisely that instant when talking about Lisa is, imo, a fine example of a perfectly timed Hitchcock double entendre meant to suggest the idea that Jefferies DOES want women to "hold it", despite the steady rejection of such an idea we will be witnessing for the next 100 minutes.

 

[rich_d]

After Lisa sits in Jeff's lap and tries (and fails) to get a "rise" out of Jeff - she moves to the day bed. Notice the limp cigarette in her mouth as this non-verbal reaction tells the story.

 

[Mike Boone]

Sat tech. Not thrilled. DCPs, however, are our friend.

MFL will go out as 4k DCPs.

Am glad that your post reminded me that My Fair Lady will be re-released in the digital format. My wife and I generally prefer, anymore, watching movies on Blu-ray in our home theater, due to various factors like audience behavior. However, the last movie we went out to see was Gravity, and the beautiful, pristine presentation of it, via digital technology, at our favorite theater, Cinemark's Tinseltown USA, in North Canton, Ohio, certainly offers encouragement that My Fair Lady projected from a digital cinema package onto a huge screen, like Gravity was presented on, would make for one terrific experience. I realize that Gravity's an entirely different animal having originated digitally, with the exception of its earthbound final scene, which was shot on 65mm film. And I know that Gravity, because it was a major new release, was accorded Tinseltown's largest screen, it's only so called XD Extreme Digital screen, at that location. So MFL, being a revival of an old film, (thanks to your efforts in helping to revive it) would very likely be assigned to a more modest sized screen. But your high regard for DCP's, RAH, has me enthused about making a date of it, for my wife and myself, to see My Fair Lady presented digitally, on whatever screen size it might shine on.


And does my memory serve me well in recalling that you once posted that a large film format production like My Fair Lady, properly converted to the digital realm, and then presented with a 4k projector, is close to matching the quality of large format film projection? Because if that is true, My Fair Lady will certainly be worth it, for us to make the effort to get out to the theater, when it plays here in Northeast Ohio.

 

[Charles Smith]

Damn, damn, damn, DAMN. (in the wrong thread)


I wanted to watch the restoration feature on Rear Window last night, but my Hitchcock set is the UK one and it looks like that feature wasn't carried over to it. Is it on the US BDs, or do I have to reacquire the DVD to have it back? Shame on me -- I'm usually much more careful about these things.

 

[Worth]

And does my memory serve me well in recalling that you once posted that a large film format production like My Fair Lady, properly converted to the digital realm, and then presented with a 4k projector, is close to matching the quality of large format film projection?

A 4K digital DCP should be noticeably sharper than a 70mm relase print.

 

[rich_d]

Am glad that your post reminded me that My Fair Lady will be re-released in the digital format. My wife and I generally prefer, anymore, watching movies on Blu-ray in our home theater, due to various factors like audience behavior.

Very true. You can't pick your relatives.