James Stewart is a photojournalist with a broken leg, confined to his Greenwich Village apartment and passing the time by peeping on his neighbors when he accidentally maybe spies one of those neighbors offing his wife. Grace Kelly plays Jimmy’s girl Friday, and Thelma Ritter crackles as his dyspeptic masseuse. 1954’s Rear Window just may be Alfred Hitchcock’s most purely pleasurable suspense, but that doesn't make it basic: With Stewart playing his director surrogate, Hitch is poking at some interesting ideas about voyeurism and male impotence. Also: Raymond Burr smoking a cigarette in the dark is still one of the most deliciously chilling sights in cinema. – Kimberley Jones
