The Edmond Town Hall Theater (45 Main Street) will screen Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) in HD on Thursday, September 29th at 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM, presented by the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission. Special note: The matinee will be screened with subtitles for the benefit of deaf and hearing impaired patrons.
Rear Window takes place in the New York apartment of L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) who has been trapped for weeks while laid up with a broken leg. He’s become an avid voyeur, having not much to do but look out his window and into those of his fellow tenants. Focusing on what’s going on “out there” helps him avoid dealing with his own problems. Lisa (Grace Kelly), his “too perfect” girlfriend, chides him about his nosiness (partly because she wants his attention). Jeff’s observant visiting nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) is quick to advise that peeping could land him six months in the work house, "What people ought to do is get outside their own house and look in for a change."
Hitchcock’s direction is masterful in building suspense throughout the film, culminating in a thrilling seat-gripping climax.
Rear Window was painstakingly restored from the original master, and will be shown in high definition. The original film negative, which was used to make hundreds of distribution copies, was considerably deteriorated by the early ‘60s, so it was quite a challenge for preservation experts. The yellow image dyes were barely detectable, so a new restoration technique had to be developed just for this film.