Movie #29: Released in 1954, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, 112 minutes. Seen it before.

LetterBoxd score: 4.5 stars

It’s kind of crazy that this, rather than something like Seven Samurai, is the first movie on this list to use a widescreen format. Hopefully there are more to come, as I tolerate but do not love the aspect ratio.

It’s also a movie in that era where you don’t just use color by default; if you use color, you’re gonna think hard about it. In this case, you’re going to cast people with crazy blue eyes, and give Grace Kelly bright red lipstick, that stand out like a floating pair of lips.

I really like the moment in this movie when Stewart is watching Kelly get attacked; he’s totally impotent, and you can see the agony of it. To watch helplessly or avert your eyes is the only moral choice he has left at that point.

Why would someone think it’s one of the ten greatest movies ever made?

It perfectly nails its unique conceit: solving a murder while stuck in voyeur mode from across the courtyard. And somehow, it manages to sneak glamour into that setting, via Grace Kelly and her wardrobe. I can see that some would find the ethics around voyeurism interesting, but for me they seem a bit like window dressing.

But I think the best part of it is how Hitchcock uses the apartment complex to tell multiple tangentially related human dramas: the lonely woman, the dancer in waiting, the newlyweds, the artist, the song composer, the dog owners, and the unhappy salesman and his wife. And of course, the photographer with the most beautiful woman in the world who loves him. That makes the picture unusually expansive for a thriller. The murder is just one thread of many.

Next: Journey to Italy