Reflection On The Films Of The Blog

Now that I have explained the plots of the seven films in detail, which I have done in the seven previous posts on this blog, I will now make my own personal reflections on each film and rank them in order of personal preference to close out the blog.

Rebecca- I feel that this is a film of two halves. The first half of the film sets the scene without much plot advancement and then once Rebecca’s body is found, the second half begins and the film kicks into action. Although the first half is quite slow by today’s standard, it is still highly recommended.

Notorious- The only problem I have with this film is that I feel the romance between the two leads is slightly rushed. Other than that, it is a film of exceptional quality.

Rope- A fascinating film, I feel. The way it is filmed, with ten minute long takes, does make it highly flawed, and I feel that James Stewart was not quite right for his role. Nevertheless, it is a film that somehow manages to work out and is easy to watch numerous times as well as being memorable.

Strangers on a Train- A great film, with the best villain in the Hitchcock canon, in my opinion. The introduction scene at the train station is incredible.

Rear Window- A very close second to Vertigo for me. Incredibly entertaining, and the decision to keep the camera to the one apartment is genius.

Vertigo- My all-time favourite film. Everything about it is perfection to me, from the plot to the actors to the settings in San Francisco to the soundtrack.

North by Northwest- Simply a great action film. It is easy to see how it inspired the James Bond franchise.

In order, this is how I would rank each of the above films, with 7 being the lowest and 1 being the highest:

7- Rebecca

6- Rope

5-Notorious

4- Strangers on a Train

3- North by Northwest

2- Rear Window

And my number one film, Vertigo.

Thanks for reading my blog everyone!

North By Northwest

North by Northwest is a spy thriller film that was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1959. It starred Cary Grant in his fourth and final Hitchcock film before retirement, as well as Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, with Martin Landau and Leo G. Carroll in a supporting role. Today, it is considered one of Hitchcock’s best films. It was also the inspiration for the James Bond film franchise.

The films opens on New York’s Madison Avenue. Business executive Roger O. Thornhill (Grant) is walking along the busy sidewalk dictating notes to his secretary. After hailing a taxi, he heads to the Plaza Hotel. He instructs his secretary to call with a note to his mother, but after she leaves he realises his mother will be in a different location. He meets with his regular group of friends for a drink. He asks an employee where the wire is, at the same time a page is being called out for George Kaplan. As he heads to the bar to make a wire to his mother, two goons with concealed weapons force him into a taxi.

He is driven to a Long Island mansion where he meets ‘Lester Townsend’ (Mason) and his henchman Leonard (Landau). They accuse him of being federal agent George Kaplan, but Thornhill denies even knowing this man. After refusing to admit he is Kaplan, Leonard and an associate get Thornhill drunk and set him off driving a car along the coast. The plan fails however as Thornhill saves himself at the last second and drives off drunk. The goon’s pursue but back off when the cops stop Thornhill for drunk driving.

At the police station, it is revealed the car was stolen. Thornhill tells his story but no one believes him. He, his mother and two policemen head to the estate and the woman who answers the door acts like they are old friends, and all evidence of his previous visit have been removed. Thornhill demands to meet Townsend and is informed he is at the United Nations where he is about to address the General Assembly. Thornhill and his mother head back to the Plaza Hotel to try and find Kaplan. While heading back out, Thornhill recognises the two goons and escapes in a taxi to the United Nations building. He meets Thornhill, but he is not the man who orchestrated his kidnapping. One of the thugs following attempts to throw a knife at Thornhill but hits Townsend, killing him. Thornhill is photographed after pulling the knife out his back and is subsequently on all the front pages of the newspapers wanted for murder. All newspapers report he is named George Kaplan.

We then see a group of Government agents discussing the news about ‘Kaplan’. It is revealed that Kaplan is a fictitious man used to distract spies from uncovering real American undercover agents. The leader of the group, the Professor (Carroll) decides they will do nothing about the situation because it is a very useful decoy to cover up their own tactics and their own agent.

The police are searching for Thornhill in Grand Central station. He tries to buy a ticket for the Twentieth Century Limited to Chicago but the ticket booth operator recognises him and phones the police about his whereabouts. Thornhill sneaks onto the train and meets an icy blonde (Saint) who hides him in a train compartment and tells the police that she seen him get off the train. Thornhill later finds himself sitting with her in the dining car. He claims he is wanted for unpaid parking tickets but she tells him she knows all about the murder at the United Nations building. She reveals that she paid the porter $5 to sit him next to her and they flirt with each other for a while and then suggests he can hide in her apartment overnight. She then tells him the train has stopped and several policemen are getting on board. Thornhill quickly leaves the dining car.

In her compartment, she hides him in the closed upper bunk while the police ask her questions about the man she was talking with in the dining car. They flirt some more until a porter arrives and Thornhill hides in the bathroom. While they kiss it is revealed that she handed a note to the porter to be sent to another compartment. It says, “What do I do with him in the morning? Eve.” The men in the compartment are ‘Townsend’ and Leonard.

When the train arrives in Chicago, Thornhill is disguised as a train guard, Eve paying one of them for the clothes to sneak past the police waiting. When the police are aware that Thornhill is dresses as one of the guards, he hides in the men’s changing room in clear sight, shaving, as the police run right past him looking for a guard. Meanwhile, Eve and Leonard exchange a phone call where Eve receives instructions. When Thornhill emerges, Eve lies about having a phone call with Kaplan and says he has arranged a meeting at the Prairie bus stop on Highway 41. With tears in her eyes, Eve urges him to leave.

When he arrives at the deserted bus stop, numerous cars pass by before a man gets out of a car and stands at the bus stop on the opposite side of the road. Thornhill speaks to him but he is not Kaplan and is just waiting for a bus. Just before he gets on, he notes how odd it is that a crop duster is dusting where there is no crops. Suddenly, the pilot swoops down and begins shooting at Thornhill. After a chase into a corn field, Thornhill runs out and attempts to stop a truck, almost getting ran over. The plane then crashes into the truck and is set ablaze, killing the pilot. Two pickups stop by to look at the explosion, giving Thornhill the opportunity to steal one of them and drive back to Chicago.

Thornhill enters the Ambassador Hotel, looking for Kaplan but notices Eve heading up to her room. He gets the number off the hotel clerk before heading up into her room. When she opens the door, she runs and hugs him. He confronts her but she dodges the questions about the set-up of the attack. Eve receives a phone call and writes down an address, before asking that Thornhill leaves and never returns, before relenting and accepting a final dinner together, only if he gets his suit cleaned. While Thornhill pretends to take a shower, Eve sneaks out. He rubs a pencil over the paper Eve wrote on and finds the address- which turns out to be an art auction.

At the art auction, he sees ‘Townsend’ sitting with Eve and talking to Leonard. While confronting them, the auctioneer reveals ‘Townsend’ to be Vandamn, who was bidding for a rare art object. Vandamn still believes Thornhill is Kaplan. Thornhill then insults Eve who rises to hit him before stopping herself and sitting down. Leonard then heads to the exit along with another henchman to prevent Thornhill from escaping. As the Professor watches on, Thornhill deliberately bids low and makes idiotic comments before starting a fight in order to get arrested.

In the police car, Thornhill announces himself as the UN killer. As the policemen radio in for instructions on what to do, they are instructed to take him to the airport. There, the Professor reveals himself and explains that Kaplan never existed before stating they are headed to Rapid City, South Dakota as Vandamn has a house near Mount Rushmore. Thornhill declines before agreeing after being told that Eve is the undercover agent and Vandamn is getting suspicious about her. He agrees to pretend to be Kaplan for 24 more hours.

They arrange a meeting with Vandamn in a café near Mount Rushmore. ‘Kaplan’ knows that Vandamn is leaving the country at night time (the professor told him) and offers to let Vandamn leave without any trouble as long as he hands over Eve to him. Vandamn refuses and acting angry, ‘Kaplan’ pulls Eve towards him before she pulls out a gun. In order to prove she is not in allegiance with ‘Kaplan’, she shoots him before fleeing the scene. Vandamn and Leonard flee in order to avoid becoming involved with the ‘murder’. Thornhill leaves in an ambulance with the Professor.

The ambulance pulls up in a forest of pine trees. There, Thornhill gets a change to say goodbye to Eve, who is leaving with Vandamn at night. Thornhill tries to get her to change her mind but she refuses, feeling she has to get on with her work. She apologises for almost getting him killed by the crop duster. The ambulance driver then knocks out Thornhill on the Professor’s orders since he wasn’t going to allow Eve to leave.

Thornhill is held in a locked hospital room as radio reports that Kaplan is in a critical condition. When the Professor leaves to get a drink, Thornhill climbs out the window, sneaks along a ledge before dropping into another room and escaping. He calls a taxi and arrives at Vandamn’s house near Mount Rushmore. He climbs up the side of the house and sees and hears Leonard telling Vandamn about Eve’s treachery by shooting the gun loaded with blanks at him. Vandamn says he will dispose of Eve over water when the plane is in the air.

After overhearing this, Thornhill climbs up the side of the house to Eve’s room, writes a note warning her and throws it down to her. She gets it and heads up to her room, where Thornhill warns her not to get on the plane. She heads back down and heads out to the airfield with Vandamn. The housekeeper spots Thornhill and holds him at gun point, although it is the gun loaded with blanks. Thornhill eventually realises this and breaks out, steals one of Vandamns cars and rescues Eve and the art object, which is filled with microfilm. They try to leave but the gates are locked at the exit. They run while being chased by Leonard and another guard before finding themselves on top of Mount Rushmore.

As they climb down, the guard try’s to attack Thornhill with a knife but Roger throws him off the edge after a fight. Leonard appears and snatches the art out of Eve’s hands before pushing her over the edge. As she hangs on for life, Thornhill clings on to her. He appeals to Leonard for help but he stamps on his fingers. Just in time, a policeman shoots Leonard and him and the art and microfilm fall off the edge to his death. The Professor has returned in time to rescue Thornhill and Eve and arrest master spy Vandamn.

The scene cuts to Thornhill and Eve, now married, on the upper berth of a train compartment. It is their honeymoon and they are returning to how they first met.

Vertigo

Vertigo is a psychological thriller that was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1958. It stars James Stewart in his fourth and final Hitchcock film and Kim Novak. Barbara Bel Geddes and Tom Helmore appear in supporting roles. The film is set in San Francisco and many famous landmarks appear in the film. Initially, it was not a great success with either critics or the public but over time it has been recognised as one of the greatest films of all time, replacing Citizen Kane in 2012 on top of the Sight and Sounds critics’ poll of the greatest films of all time.

The film opens with two detectives pursuing a criminal over rooftops somewhere in San Francisco. While jumping over rooftops, one of them slips while landing on a rooftop and ends up clinging to the drain pipe. While looking down, he gets dizzy and suffers from Vertigo for the first time. The other officer gives up his pursuit and attempts to rescue him but falls to his death, leaving the other officer to hang on the drain pipe clinging for his life.

In the next scene, we find out the officer is John “Scottie” Ferguson (Stewart) and due to his Vertigo he has been forced to retire from the police force. He is in his friends, Marjorie “Midge” Wood’s (Geddes) apartment and is trying to overcome his Vertigo. Midge is in love with Scottie but Scottie doesn’t reciprocate her love. His fall also caused him to have to use a cane while walking. Scottie mentions he has received a phone call from his old College friend Gavin Elster (Helmore) who is a successful shipping tycoon and has asked Scottie to meet him at his work. While stepping up on a multi-tiered chair, to try and “lick” his Vertigo, he looks out the apartment window and suffers another case of Vertigo and falls into Midge’s arms.

Scottie arrives at Elster’s work and learns he wants him to follow his wife, Madeline, as he fears she has been possessed by someone dead. Madeline apparently goes into trances and wanders around San Francisco. After Elster states that he wants Scottie for the job as he trusts him greatly, Scottie agrees to retake his old role as a private detective once more. Elster arranges for him to see Madeline later that night.

At Ernie’s restaurant, Scottie is introduced to Madeline (Novak), a cool blonde, when Elster and she walk by Scottie who is sitting at the bar. The next day, Scottie follows her as she drives about San Francisco. After leaving her apartment in Nob Hill, she first stops at a flower shop to buy some flowers before heading to the Mission Dolores where she stops for a while to look at the gravestone of Carlotta Valdes who died in 1857. After she leaves, Scottie makes a note of the name on the gravestone.

Madeline then heads to the California Palace of the Legion of Honour where she sits, almost like she is hypnotised, at a painting of a portrait of Carlotta Valdes. Scottie notices her hair is done the exact same way as Carlotta’s is in the painting. Finally Madeline heads to the McKittrick hotel and heads up to her room and stands looking outside the window. Scottie heads inside and asks the landlady the name of the person who just came in. She says her name is Carlotta Valdes and then says she hasn’t been in today. Scottie gets the landlady to check the room and it is empty, and Madeline’s car has disappeared. He finds it parked in front of Madeline’s apartment.

Back at Midge’s, he asks her for someone who is an authority on San Francisco history for help with his research. She recommends the owner of the Argosy Book Shop. The owner tells Scottie about Carlotta Valdes: she had a child with a wealthy but abusive man and when he tired of her, he abandoned her and took the baby. She went crazy and committed suicide. After leaving, Midge, who accompanied him, demands to know what is going on. After Scottie refuses, she guesses that it has something to do with Gavin Elster and then goes further and guesses that Carlotta has taken control of his wife. She laughs at Scottie but understands why Scottie is investigating when he says Madeline is a pretty woman.

Scottie meets with Elster for a drink and Elster tells him the whole story about Carlotta. Madeline inherited several of her jewellery and just sits and looks at them in the mirror. Elster also worries that she may kill herself. He then reveals that Madeline knows nothing about Carlotta. Scottie takes another drink while saying he need this.

The next day while following Madeline, she ends up at Fort Point below the Golden Gate Bridge. Standing at the side of the water, she peels off petals of a flower slowly by the edge of the Bay. Suddenly she suddenly jumps in. Scottie jumps in, rescues her then takes her back to his apartment to dry off. She wakes up when the telephone goes off in Scotties Bedroom. Giving her his bathrobe, they talk for the first time. Madeline says that she can’t remember jumping into the Bay but thanks Scottie for saving her. When they are interrupted by Elster phoning, Madeline takes her clothes and leaves the apartment. When Scottie comes out to look, Midge drives away, jealous and thinking that something else happened between the two.

The next day, while following Madeline, Scottie ends up back at his own apartment as Madeline posts a note through the letterbox. Scottie asks and Madeline agrees to them spending time together. Together, they take a car ride to a local nature park. Madeline keeps disappearing between the trees and when Scottie catches her he presses her for information about what she is thinking.

The pair end up on a cliff side in the Monterey Bay. After revealing all she knows and becoming frightened, she runs to the water’s edge. Scottie holds her and they kiss and embrace each other. Scottie vows to protect her from whatever trouble she is experiencing as the waves crash against the rocks before the scene cuts to black.

Scottie is invited to Midge’s apartment and after asking where he’s been, she announces she has returned to her first love- painting. She then shows Scottie her painting which is Carlotta’s portrait with Midge’s face. Scottie is very unhappy at this and tells her that it isn’t funny before leaving. Midge breaks down crying at what she has done.

The next morning, Madeline appears at Scottie’s door upset as she has had recurring nightmares of her in a mission bell tower. Scottie realises she is talking about the San Juan Bautista’s Spanish Mission, south of San Francisco. Scottie takes her there and while wandering around she runs away from him into the bell tower. Scottie try’s to stop her but while climbing up the bell tower her suffers from Vertigo again and Madeline jumps from the top to her death.

The coroner holds a meeting about Madeline’s death and it is concluded that although Scottie was weak, it was a suicide. Elster apologises for what has happened and says he is finishing up in San Francisco and heading to Europe. After the hearing, Scottie is emotionally broken and after suffering from nightmares he is committed to a sanatorium. Midge visits and try’s to use music to cheer him up but Scottie is unresponsive. His doctor tells Midge it might take up to a year before Scottie is cured.

When Scottie is released, he wanders around San Francisco constantly mistaking women for his lost Madeline. One day, he spots a brunette lookalike of Madeline and follows her back to her hotel before asking to speak to her. The brunette reveals she is Judy Barton (Novak again) and after realising how broken Scottie is, agrees to a date out of pity with him. When he leaves, it is revealed in a voice over that Judy WAS Madeline. She was Gavin Elster’s mistress and agreed to impersonate his wife and to lure Scottie to the bell tower, where Gavin was waiting at the top with his already dead wife. They knew Scottie wouldn’t be able to make it up the bell tower due to his Vertigo and when ‘Madeline’ reached the top Gavin threw his dead wife off the tower while ‘Madeline’ screamed. However, Judy did genuinely fall in love with Scottie. But she is aware that Scottie is in love with Madeline, not Judy.

When they are at Ernie’s Restaurant, Scottie keeps getting distracted by a woman who looks similar to Madeline when they first met in the restaurant. After the date, Scottie asks if they can see each other again and after some persuasion agrees. The next day, Scottie presents Judy with some clothes that are exactly like the clothes Madeline wore. He obsessively tries to remake Judy over to be just like Madeline. Judy tries to win him over as herself but eventually agrees to wear the clothes because she loves him. She also agrees to dye her hair from being a brunette to a blonde. Scottie notices that she still doesn’t have her hair pinned back like Madeline had. She relents, goes into the bathroom and comes out as Madeline. Scottie and her kiss as he flashes back to the bell tower.

Later, Scottie and Madeline have a date planned and she is putting the finishing touches on her dress. As she asks Scottie to help her, he notices she is wearing the same piece of jewellery Madeline was. Scottie realises he has been tricked and instead of heading to the restaurant, takes Madeline back to the San Juan Bautista’s Spanish Mission. Madeline becomes panicked as Scottie drags her up the bell tower. By taking Judy up the bell tower he can save Madeline and cure his Vertigo.

When he gets to the top, he makes Madeline confess to her crimes. She says she only stayed behind in San Francisco because she truly loves Scottie but he says it is too late. He also notices that he made it to the top without suffering from Vertigo- he has been cured. As Madeline kisses Scottie, a nun comes out the darkness and frightens Madeline, causing her to fall out the bell tower to her death- again. In one of the greatest film ending of all time, Scottie steps out onto the ledge and looks down. He is cured of his Vertigo but his obsession with one woman and inability to accept anyone else has caused him to lose his love for real.

Rear Window

Rear Window is a mystery/thriller film that was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1954. It is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time. It stars James Stewart and Grace Kelly, both making their 2^nd appearance in a Hitchcock film with Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr in supporting roles.

L.B. Jefferies (Stewart) is a professional photographer who has had his leg broken in an accident while taking pictures of a motor race at a racetrack. New York is currently experiencing a heatwave, which makes his life even more miserable. His cast is due to come off in one weeks’ time. His editor calls him up and offers him a job in Kashmir, mistakenly thinking Jefferies cast was due to come off this week. Jeff begs to get his editor to let him accept the offer as he is bored staring out into the courtyard of his apartment. He has spent the past six weeks spying on his neighbours. While looking out the window, he notices the travelling salesman (Burr) arguing with his wife in their apartment across the courtyard.

His nurse, Stella (Ritter), arrives and admonishes him for spying on his neighbours, warning him he could get six months in jail for being a peeping tom. In a foreshadowing of events to come, she warns him his voyeurism will get him into a lot of trouble. Discussion then turn towards Jeff’s girlfriend, Lisa (Kelly) and his reluctance to marry her, despite her clearly loving him. Jeff claims that Lisa is too perfect for him. While Stella is in the kitchen, Jeff notices a pair of newlyweds arriving in their apartment before shutting the blinds (they are the only ones to shut their apartment blinds in the whole film).

Later that night, while having a nap, Jeff is awakened by Lisa kissing him. She is a fashion model/journalist, and is wearing a $1000 dollar dress that was given to her for free through her work. She has also brought a lobster dinner that she cooked herself. While Lisa prepares the dinner, Jeff notices a lonely woman across the courtyard he has named Miss Lonelyhearts, pretending to act out a date before breaking down crying. Jeff then compares Lisa to another neighbour, Miss Torso who is entertaining three men in her apartment. They also notice another argument between the salesman and his wife. Lisa desperately try’s to distract Jeff from events outside and to get him to focus on just her. Eventually, Jeff makes one too many snide references about Lisa’s line of work which leads to Lisa leaving and saying she won’t be back until tomorrow night.

During the night while Jeff is sleeping next to the window, he hears a loud scream and a smash. Then during the thunderstorm, he sees the salesman leave the apartment with his suitcase multiple times. Then, after Jeff falls asleep again, we see the salesman leaving with an unidentified woman. The next day, Stella visits and she notices he hasn’t had much sleep. While discussing the missing wife, they notice a neighbour’s dog digging at a flowerbed in the courtyard before the salesman before it is shoed away. Before leaving, Jeff gets Stella to hand him his binoculars. Using it, he notices the salesman wrapping up a saw and large knife, while also packing items into his case. He also notices the bedridden wife is not there.

Later that day, while the temperature has risen to 82 degrees, Lisa and Jeff are passionately kissing, having made up after the previous night. However, yet again, Jeff begins to ignore Lisa and turns back to the courtyard. While telling Lisa about the salesman carrying a heavy rope into his wife’s bedroom, Lisa interrupts him and tells him off. She thinks he is wildly speculating and that there is nothing to see, while Jeff thinks there is. They then notice the salesman tie up a large crate with the rope while a rolled up mattress is on the floor of the bedroom. She begins to suspect Jeff may be correct and asks him to tell her everything, from the beginning. Later, Lisa runs around to the apartment and discovers his name is Lars Thorwald.

The next morning, Jeff phones his old buddy Thomas J. Doyle (Corey), who is a policeman, and asks him to come over and investigate. Doyle arrives and after some persuasion, agrees to look into the matter. Jeff then notices the dog digging at the flowerbed before Thorwald comes over and shoos it away. Later, Doyle reports back that the apartment superintendent saw Thorwald and his wife leave early in the morning before he put her on a train. Jeff demands further investigating, but Doyle is unconvinced. Doyle also states Thorwald received a postcard from his wife, from Meritsville, 80 miles north. Jeff is greatly disappointed by the news.

Later that night, yet again spying on all his neighbours, Jeff notices Thorwald packing a suitcase and talking on the phone while going through his wife’s handbag, playing with the jewellery. Worried he is preparing to leave, Jeff leaves a message for Doyle to come over as soon as possible. Lisa then arrives, and after being briefed by Jeff on the latest, says that she has been having difficulty concentrating at work due to the mystery over Thorwald’s missing wife. She questions why the wife would leave her favourite handbag at home while going on a trip and suggests that Thorwald has had an affair with a mystery female accomplice in his wife’s murder. Jeff is pleased at this suggestion and for the first time begins to become truly attached to her. Lisa then announces she plans to spend the night with him.

Doyle arrives and Lisa says that they think that Thorwald’s guilty. Noticing that Lisa is planning to stay the night, Doyle is about to say something before being warned by Jeff to be careful about what he says. Doyle then concludes that after checking the wife’s whereabouts, Thorwald has not killed and dismembered her. Doyle also says that they checked Thorwald’s trunk and it just contained his wife’s clothes that he was sending to her. Jeff and Lisa are visibly disappointed.

Jeff and Lisa wonder whether they are becoming too involved in their neighbour’s lives. Lisa then goes to change and then reappears with a preview of coming attractions, a silk nightgown. As the pair settle down and close the blinds, they are interrupted by a loud scream from the courtyard. Opening the blinds, they see a dead dog and its owner crying. Everyone in the courtyard comes to their window except Thorwald, who sits in the dark smoking a cigarette. Lisa thinks it was killed because it knew too much.

The next day, Jeff, Lisa and Stella watch Thorwald scrub the walls of his bathroom. Stella is convinced as well and states that she thinks that Thorwald cut his wife up and dumped her body all over New York. Jeff writes Thorwald a note saying he knows what he did and Lisa runs over and delivers it under the door, narrowly escaping Thorwald. Stella thinks she notices Miss Lonelyhearts preparing to commit suicide but they are distracted by Lisa returning, while Jeff is obviously falling deeper in love with her. To get time to dig up the flowers where the dog was digging, Jeff phones Thorwald and sets up a meeting in a nearby bar. This allows Lisa and Stella to head down and dig at the flowerbed. They find nothing but Lisa climbs up the fire escape and sneaks into Thorwald’s apartment.

Lisa’s aim is to find the wife’s wedding ring and prove she has been murdered. Jeff and Stella are distracted by Miss Lonelyhearts and prepare to phone the police, distracting them from Lisa. They miss Thorwald returning and fail to warn to Lisa, who seems to have found something. While Lisa hides, Jeff phones the police to report a man attacking a woman. Just as it seems that Thorwald is going to kill Lisa, the police arrive and stop him just in time. While looking through his binoculars, Jeff notices Lisa has the wife’s wedding ring on her hand and is pointing it out to him (it is a symbolic proposal from Lisa to Jeff). Thorwald notices this and looks directly at Jeff, who for the first time in the film is noticed.

Jeff phones Doyle  and after telling Doyle what has happened, Doyle promises to look into it further. The police take Lisa away and Stella heads to the police station to bail Lisa. Jeff is left alone and when the phone rings, he thinks it is Doyle and urgently tells him about what happened but no-one responds. While hearing footsteps outside his apartment, he takes flashbulbs and puts them into his camera, his only method of defence. Thorwald enters and asks why Jeff did it, but he has no answer. As Thorwald advance, Jeff blinds him with the flashbulbs but eventually Thorwald reached him and tries to throw him out the window. Just in time, Lisa, Doyle and the police arrive as Jeff falls and they help to break his fall. The police arrest Thorwald, who agrees to take them on a tour of the East River. It is also confirmed that Thorwald killed the dog because it threatened to dig up some of his wife’s body parts which were buried there.

A final sweep of the courtyard ends the film. Miss Lonelyhearts didn’t commit suicide and has found a man in the composer on the other side of the courtyard, Miss Torso’s husband arrives home and the newlyweds begin to argue. Jeff has broken both his legs and while he sleeps Lisa puts down her travelling book and picks up a fashion one.