Summary of the Rear Window (1954)
The movie Rear Window is basically a story about an injured, yet dedicated journalist who is forced to stay in a apartment room until his recovery. Jeffries, the journalist, is always found near a rear window in his tiny apartment room, where he watches his neighbor and neighborhood every single day that he came to be accustom to it. He has a nanny, Stella, who comes daily to clean and look after him. Stella is none other than an observant, imaginative woman whom foreshadows “trouble” in the area. True enough, Jeffries witnesses fights between Mr. and Mrs. Thorwald in their apartment that leads to a suspicion that Mr. Thorwald has murder his wife, when suddenly, her existence in his rear window view is no longer seen. Jeffries seeks support from Thomas, a detective friend of his; however, Thomas is reluctant to help him, using all kinds of excuses to convince Jeffries that nothing particular actually happened. With the help of his nanny and girlfriend, Lisa, Jeffries fought to reveal the truth. Towards the end, Jeffries sends anonymous letter about Mrs. Thorwald saying, “I know what you did to her” to Mr. Thorwald to frighten him so that he would surrender; yet, it turns out that the action causes the discovery of Jeffries presence. Mr. Thorwald attempt to kill Jeffries by throwing him out of his rear window eventually result him in being recognized as a murderer and was arrested.

James Steward – Jeffries
Grace Kelly – Lisa
Thelma Ritter – Stella
Raymond Burr – Mr. Thorwald
Wendell Corey – Detective Thomas Doyle

Comparison between the Two Movie Reviews
Both William Brogdon and Bosley Crowther reviews summarize the movie “Rear Window” (1954) in great detail. Each character is described perfectly according to their roles and both reviews gave quality insight about Alfred Hitchcock’s professionalism in directing thriller-suspense cum romance and comedy movies. In his review, Brogdon reveals, “Hitchcock combines technical and artistic skills in a manner that makes this an unusually good piece of murder mystery entertainment”. Similarly, Crowther compliments Hitchcock, as “he may be counted on to pull it with a maximum of build-up to the punch, a maximum of carefully tricked deception and incidents to divert and amuse.” Both quotations support the idea that Mr. Hitchcock is none other than a skillful, precise director who uses film techniques to create great suspense.
Despite that, both reviews are divergent in the content of evaluation about the movie. The review written by Crowther is far more profound and thought-provoking compare to the one compose by Brogdon. Crowther’s review gives balanced remarks of critiques and compliments about the movie; however, Brogdon’s review gives more insight about the techniques used in the movie. Crowther says the movie “is not "significant." What it has to say about people and human nature is superficial and glib. But it does expose many facets of the loneliness of city life and it tacitly demonstrates the impulse of morbid curiosity.” Crowther’s insightful analytical sentences give a crucial addition to his review as being an unbiased movie reviewer. He also addresses the main issue of the movie, which I agree, and thus give an effective movie review. On the other hand, Brogdon’s review claims, “production makes clever use of natural sounds and noises throughout, with not even the good score by Franz Waxman being permitted to intrude unnaturally into the drama.” He, thereby, states how those film techniques have resulted the movie to be successful.

Opinion of the Rear Window (1954)
I have never dare or enjoy any mystery thriller movie in my life. However, this is the first ever thriller movie I have actually watch finished all by myself. It means that the movie was not thrilling at all. It lacks the essence of portraying what it should portray. The only eye-closing scene was the part where Mr. Thorwald was about to get Jeffries at the end of the movie. I am actually very curious why the movie is rate 8.3/10 in IMDb. To be honest, I will not want to watch this movie again. I feel that the movie is just a movie; it is something you can watch and probably enjoy a little but you cannot learn or fascinate much about. It is a mystery thriller movie; yet, there were no spine-tingling scenes at all, starting from the beginning. I do, however, love Alfred Hitchcock’s movie titled “North by Northwest” (1959) where suspense, comedy, and romance are perfectly mixed and matched in a movie. The movie allowed me to process information in the movie carefully to fully understand the whole meaning, thereby giving the sense of confusion and suspense. I feel that “Rear Window” (1954) was only produced to let people watch movie and not to watch and experience something from it. Although the idea of using the rear window as the door to imagination and creation is really creative, I still feel that the movie is only respected because of its famous director.