The Rear Guard

Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 Vertigo, stars James Stewart and Kim Novak in this mystery thriller about a retired detective who has acrophobia or "vertigo". John Ferguson, or to his friends Scotty, is on a private investigation to find out if his friends wife is possessed. The story takes place in San Fransisco in the late 1950's and is about retired detective John Ferguson, who after a tragic accident has acrophobia and decides to give up on being a detective. One day, an old friend from college…

Certain underlying motifs such as the subjective point of view, social and moral critiques, involvement of the audience, or the not ego ideal male protagonist can be used to characterize the Hitchcock film. His 1954 film Rear Window operates by implicating the viewer in the narrative as it presents a visual analysis on the nature of human curiosity and interactions. Throughout the film, L.B. Jeffries, played by James Stewart, is bound to his wheelchair and finds himself peering into the lives of…

The Miracle on 34th street is a film remade in 1994 for the 4th time for entertainment of the entire family; it is a classic example of a Christmas movie in today’s society. The Miracle on 34th street was produced by William S. Beasley, John Hughes, and Bill Ryan. The Director for the film Miracle on 34th street is Les Mayfield. There were approximately 55 cast members for this film, the following are the actor/actresses that were given credit: Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle,…

The movie ‘Rear Window’ was released on September 1, 1954, the movie was directed by the one and only Alfred Hitchcock, and the movies plot is that a photographer named Jeff, who is stuck on a wheelchair in his apartment to recover from a broken leg, and the movie gets the name “Rear Window” from the fact that his back window looks out into other apartments from people who live in the area. He observes many people from the area, but the most important is a jewelry salesman and his wife. One…

Released in 1955, To Catch a Thief was one of three films director Alfred Hitchcock produced within an eighteenth month period and was the result of a collaboration with rising screenwriter John Michael Hayes, whom he had previously worked with on Rear Window. Quickly written and produced, the film is about retired cat-burglar John Robie, who after being framed for a ring of jewel thefts in the French Riviera, seeks to find the real culprit, while evading the police and the romantic advances of…

Christopher Nolan’s Memento is organized in a way that the story and character development is presented to the audience backwards and with the same amnesia as the character. We experience scenes out of order and backwards. In the film Leonard talks with the motel manager about his memory condition (Memento 8:00). However, this has happened before, we the viewers are just know seeing the exchange between the characters for the first time. This can help the audience have a connection with Leonard…

The film Rear Window, directed by Alfred Hithcock, follows the days of main character Jeff (James Jefferies) as he stares out his apartment windows into the lives of the people across the way. The film utilizes framing and blocking to convey the limited world in which this character is engrossed in, which directly corresponds with Sergei Eisenstein’s idea that framing creates intentional conflict between what an audience can see and what an audience can conclude from a collection of shots, just…

In most Hitchcock films, the characters drink brandy; it is a narrative element that is used to relieve the tension and restore from a scary or unexpected situation. When a character faints usually is offered brandy as a way to recover consciousness, feel better and even numb the feelings. For example, after Daisy finds the lodger in the street, handcuffed and cold, she take him to a restaurant and asks for brandy. This element also could be helpful for the action in the film continue or helps…

Spike Lee, through his undoubtedly inventive yet obtrusive camerawork, embodies emotional impact. From lateral panning and jumpy camera sequences to his use of perspective, Lee inspires intensity and apprehension. An odd synchronicity between the camerawork and subject matter fosters these emotional reactions and inspires inquisition; the viewer conceptualizes the camerawork to uncover a significance the narrative cannot deliver. The cop sequence retains suspense and effortlessly transfers…

Hitchcock had many other technical devices that he used in order to grab the viewers’ attention, such as having the audience as a voyeur and the MacGuffin. Hitchcock used voyeurism to blur the lines between the innocent and the guilty, as well to put the audience in a position in which they become personally engaged with the characters of the film. Having the audience as a voyeur, was able to put the viewers in the film as a sense just watching a movie. The viewers were in a way transplanted in…