Part of the Avalon’s Hitchcock/Truffaut Film Festival, May 5-7

Thursday, May 5 at 3:00pm
Saturday, May 7 at 8:00pm

Equal parts thrilling, playful, shocking and romantic, Rear Window reveals Hitchcock at the height of his powers as a filmmaker. The film was the second of Hitchcock’s collaborations with James Stewart and Grace Kelly, and the latter’s alluring performance stands as the pinnacle of old Hollywood glamour. Bringing the spectacular Greenwich Village apartment set, constructed entirely at Paramount Studios, to life was a technical achievement of visuals and sound best appreciated on the large screen.

Laid up with a broken leg, photojournalist L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to his tiny, sweltering courtyard apartment. To pass the time between visits from his nurse (Thelma Ritter) and his fashion model girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly), the binocular-wielding Jeffries stares through the rear window of his apartment at the goings-on in the other apartments around his courtyard. Of particular interest to Jeff is Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), a traveling salesman who spends much of his time at home arguing with his bedridden wife. After the wife disappears and Jeff observes Lars’ increasingly suspicious behavior, Jeff becomes convinced that the salesman has committed murder. What follows is an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse that puts Jeff and those he cares for in dire jeopardy. 1954.

The Avalon is presenting film classics from directors Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut before the theater’s spring benefit event “The Genius of Hitchcock,” on Sunday, May 8. Learn more about the event & buy tickets.