This being
Valentine’s week and all…
I’d never
thought of Hitchcock’s 1954 production of Rear Window as a Romance.
What I
recalled was Jimmy Stewart laid up with a broken leg spying on the antics of
his neighbours while Grace Kelly pranced in and out of his apartment wearing a
season of new frocks.
After
hearing a blood curdling scream from the apartment opposite Stewart deduces
that Raymond Burr, aka Perry Mason in another life, has murdered and chopped up
his wife, maybe- and Stewart tries to convince his detective friend to
investigate. Stewart is, of course, spot on- as always.
A Mystery-Thriller
was the genre I recollected
But a
recent viewing threw me off kilter- Rear Window is a lot more about love
than I remembered.
Jeff
(Stewart) thinks that Lisa (Kelly) is too perfect for him (Well, she probably
was and sure she married a real prince in real life)
He being an adventurous
photographer who lived life in the outback carrying his possessions in a back
pack and she being a society gal.
And as if to
reinforce his view- discord in love is all around him. There’s Miss Lonely
Heart in the basement who prepares candle lit meals for an imaginary lover, Miss Torso who flirts
with everyone but is partial to none, the newly weds whose romance is beginning
to unravel and the Thorvalds who bicker and squawk until he finally chops off
her head.
Unrequited
love, romantic love, doomed love, absent love, tragic love, love gone astray….
Meanwhile
Lisa is the main initiator of any intimate exchanges with Jeff, climbing all
over the invalid, bestowing kisses in an attempt to seduce him with her
overnight case and silk negligée. Which Jeff, strangely enough, ignores-
To win his
love she has to do the heroines’ journey. Do battle with the hag and enter the
mouth of the dragon.
And so
Grace Kelly, replete with crinoline petticoated billowy skirt and stiletto heels, negotiates high perpendicular
ladders and iron railed balconies, does hand to hand combat with the murder suspect,
is nearly strangled by the villain of the piece and is finally arrested by the
cops for her trouble- Some lengths to go to prove her marital compatibility!
Thankfully
all ends well and the last shot in the film is of our Girl Friday wearing the
trousers, designer though they may be, reading her copy of Bazaar, while he
sleeps like a baby.
It’s Amore
is the final score
Miss lonely
Heart finds a real lover and Miss Torso welcomes home her pint sized partner.
The woman
has conformed to the man’s ideal of what makes a perfect wife, risking her life
albeit in the attempt... hardly a token to equality between the sexes despite
her designer slacks.
A lot of fun
nonetheless.
That’s
Amore…..
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