Introduction 0:00-04:04

Blinds slowly open to reveal a courtyard with surrounding apartments, windows open. Each of these windows will contain occupants with their own story. The blinds, representing privacy, are withdrawn. The camera pans across the scene, simulating a person surveying the landscape. The man sleeping on the outside of his apartment together with the sweat on L. B. Jefferies’ (Jeff) forehead and an extreme close up of the thermometer reveal the weather is extremely hot.

A montage of shots starts to introduce us to the characters within the complex: a man shaving, the couple on the balcony, a woman doing stretches. The way the woman drops her skimpy top while attempting to fasten it with her back to the window then bends over to pick it up is the first hint of a sense of voyeurism that will be constant throughout the film. The camera continues to move as if surveying the scene but returns to the protagonist Jeff and a close up of his leg in a cast with the epitaph-like inscription: ‘Here lie the broken bones of L. B. Jefferies.’ The broken camera and series of action shots hint at Jeff’s occupation as a photojournalist.

Introduction Quote

Here lie the broken bones of L. B. Jefferies. Introduction

Scene 1: Meet the neighbours 04:04-08:25

Jeff receives a phone call from his editor, Gunnison, who mistakenly congratulates Jeff on the removal of his cast. Jeff’s gaze continues to the two women on a nearby exposed balcony who have removed their clothing and dropped out of view, presumably to sunbathe. Jeff tells Gunnison that he will not emerge from his ‘plaster cocoon’ until his cast comes off next Wednesday, his reference to the cast as a cocoon symbolic of the transformation he will encounter throughout the film.

Jeff’s attention is drawn to the scantily clad woman, Miss Torso, who once again bends over and dances while she retrieves something from the fridge. Engrossed in her music and dancing, Miss Torso appears unaware that she is being closely observed by Jeff. While continuing with his phone conversation, Jeff cranes his neck and focuses on another apartment in which a woman, Miss Hearing Aid, is reacting to the noise coming from Miss Torso’s apartment above. The interaction between the trio highlights the close proximity of the neighbours, their lack of privacy, and how they impinge upon each other. Jeff’s glance shifts to an apartment in which a man, the Songwriter, is playing a piano.

The phone conversation turns to marriage, which Jeff views as something crazy and to be done only out of boredom. His editor reflects the view of the day that Jeff should be married by now and avoid being a bitter old man. The conversation reveals that Jeff broke his leg as a result of being hit while taking photos in the middle of a car race track. Whilst discussing marriage, Jeff’s eyes are trained on another apartment, that of the married couple, Mr Lars and Mrs Anna Thorwald. Mr Thorwald has just returned and it appears his wife, who is sick in bed, is nagging him about the time. The couple seem antagonistic, Mr Thorwald throwing the newspaper down on the bed and storming out. He soon appears in the courtyard, gardening.

Miss Hearing Aid has come outside to relax in the sun and, noticing Mr Thorwald, climbs some stairs to look over the fence, again highlighting how easily privacy is breached. She comments that Mr Thorwald is overwatering his flowers. His reply, ‘Why don’t you shut up’, shows that whilst they might be neighbours, they certainly are not friends.

Scene 1: Meet the neighbours Quotes

‘Next Wednesday I emerge from this plaster cocoon.’ (Jeff) Scene 1

‘Six weeks sitting in a two-room apartment with nothing to do but look out the window at the neighbours.’ (Jeff) Scene 1

‘It’s about time you got married before you turn into a lonesome and bitter old man.’ (Gunnison to Jeff) Scene 1

‘Jeff, wives don’t nag anymore, they discuss.’ (Gunnison) Scene 1

‘Maybe in the high-rent district they discuss, in my neighbourhood they still nag.’ (Jeff to Gunnison, about women) Scene 1

Scene 2: Stella 08:25-15:34

Jeff is interrupted by his nurse, Stella, who enters his apartment, berating Jeff that the ‘state sentence for a peeping tom is six months in the workhouse’. She reminds him that they used to put out people’s eyes with a red-hot poker and asks Jeff if any of those ‘bikini bombshells’ he’s watching are worth a red-hot poker. While taking Jeff’s temperature and preparing a massage bed, Stella tells Jeff that she can anticipate trouble, a statement that seems to foreshadow misadventure, considering Jeff’s observation of the Thorwald dispute.

Stella has Jeff lay down on the massage table and the conversation turns to marriage. Lisa is introduced as someone who wants to marry Jeff, a match to which Stella gives her support. Jeff highlights Lisa’s attributes as impediments to marriage, wishing she were more ordinary rather than sophisticated as it would suit him as ‘a camera bum who never has more than a week’s salary in the bank’. Whilst Stella appears to have the upper hand in delivering advice, this is soon reversed with Jeff’s demand that she fix him a sandwich, maintaining traditional gender roles of the time.

While Stella prepares a sandwich, Jeff continues to spy out of his window. In a similar vein to how the phone conversation with Gunnison about coming home to a nagging woman coincided with the unsettling Thorwald apartment, the conversation about marriage coincides with the appearance of a newlywed couple, the Newlyweds, settling into a new apartment. The camera shot includes a window frame and tree branches, enhancing the feeling of spying. As the groom carries the bride in a traditional manner over the threshold of their bedroom, their intimacy prompts Jeff to look away momentarily, perhaps he is thinking of Lisa or mindful of the sanctity of marriage he appears intent on avoiding. The bride notices the open window through which Jeff is peering and alerts her husband who closes the blinds, reinforcing the privacy that is precious to marriage. The music playing is ‘That’s amore’, or that’s love.

Scene 2: Stella Quotes

‘State sentence for a peeping tom is six months in the workhouse … they used to put your eyes out with a red-hot poker.’ (Stella to Jeff) Scene 2

‘What people ought to do is get outside their own house and look in for a change.’ (Stella to Jeff) Scene 2

‘Right now, I’d welcome trouble.’ (Jeff to Stella) Scene 2

‘She belongs to that rarefied atmosphere of Park Avenue, expensive restaurants and literary cocktail parties.’ (Jeff, about Lisa) Scene 2

‘Modern marriage… Once it was see somebody, get excited, get married.
Now, it’s read a lot of books.’ (Stella to Jeff) Scene 2

Scene 3: Dinner with Lisa 15:36-27:10

A new scene opens, and it is later in the evening. The camera pans from right to left, imitating Jeff’s gaze across the apartment complex. This time Jeff is interrupted by Lisa Fremont. An extreme close up reveals Lisa is wearing pearl jewellery and glamorous make up, a stark contrast to Jeff’s unkempt appearance. The longer shot reveals Lisa’s elegant and stylish dress as she turns on each of the lamps, symbolic of bringing radiance into Jeff’s apartment.

Lisa has arranged for Jeff’s favourite restaurant, 21, to home deliver their dinner, and a uniformed waiter soon appears with the meal and wine. Lisa outlines the details of her day, which was full of sophisticated events as a sales agent of high-end dresses. Her appeals for Jeff to settle down and take assignment in America appear to be attempts at domesticating Jeff, perhaps signifying the nagging he referred to in the phone call with Gunnison.

As Lisa prepares dinner, she takes on a traditional role, much like Stella in the previous scene. Jeff gazes outside again and sees a different woman in a ground floor apartment, Miss Lonelyhearts, who is preparing for a candle-lit dinner for two. The image mirrors what is happening in Jeff’s apartment, much like the activities of Jeff’s apartment, such as his dialogue about nagging women, will be reflected in the lives of the neighbours he is watching. It is soon revealed that there is no guest, and that Miss Lonelyhearts will instead carry on an imaginary dinner and conversation to overcome her loneliness and desire for a romantic partner. She leans in to receive an imaginary kiss from an empty chair as she pours two glasses of wine. As she puts down the glass, her ruse plays out, and she bows her head in sorrow.

Jeff suggests Lisa would never have to worry about being lonely to which she asks if he can see her (Lisa’s) apartment from here, suggesting that perhaps at times, despite her glamour and popularity, Lisa may in fact also be lonely.

Lisa follows Jeff’s gaze as he observes Miss Torso entertaining three men and serving them drinks. Unlike Stella, who reprimanded Jeff for spying out the window, Lisa does not appear to take issue. Jeff glances at the Newlywed’s window with the blinds still closed, and is perhaps still inwardly contemplating the idea of marriage. His gaze then shifts to the Thorwalds where, after having served his wife a meal in bed, Mr Thorwald makes a call in the other room. The Thorwalds being in different rooms symbolises separation, while the sound of sirens in the background adds a sense of emergency.

A close up of Jeff sees him lean forward, showing his increasing interest in the Thorwald situation. Mrs Thorwald enters the other room and interrupts her husband’s phone call and he abruptly hangs up, adding to the tension between them.

Hitchcock’s signature cameo appears as he fixes a clock in the Songwriter’s apartment.

Lisa serves up a lavish meal of lobster. The two candle-sticks on the table, nearly identical to the two seen in Miss Lonelyheart’s apartment, and Jeff being distracted from the lovely setting, are an ironic contrast to Miss Lonelyheart’s situation who presumably would have loved nothing more than to enjoy the meal that Jeff seems to be showing little interest in.

Scene 3: Dinner with Lisa Quotes

‘Is this the Lisa Fremont who never wears the same dress twice?’
‘Only because it’s expected of her.’ (Jeff to Lisa) Scene 3

‘Jeff… Isn’t it time you came home? You could pick your assignment.’ (Lisa to Jeff) Scene 3

‘She’s like a queen bee with her pick of the drones.’
‘l’d say she’s doing a woman’s hardest job. Juggling wolves.’ (Jeff to Lisa, about Miss Torso) Scene 3

‘Well, she picked the most prosperous-looking one.’ (Jeff to Lisa, about Miss Torso’s choice of man) Scene 3

‘Oh, it’s enchanting. It’s almost as if it were being written especially for us.’
‘Hm. No wonder he’s having so much trouble with it.’ (Lisa to Jeff, on the tune from the Songwriter’s apartment) Scene 3

Scene 4: After dinner 27:10-31:57

Jeff and Lisa have a heated discussion about Jeff’s inability to settle down and Lisa’s inability to accompany him to remote places as part of his work assignments. Jeff twice tells Lisa to shut up. The over-shoulder camera shot with Jeff sitting upright and Lisa leaning on the lounge helps to establish his authority. Likewise, the return angle over Lisa’s shoulder from a low angle reinforces his position by giving him physical height over her. Lisa leaves Jeff’s apartment, the future of their relationship unresolved.

Jeff turns his attention to the apartments outside his window and hears the sound of smashing glass and a woman shriek.

Scene 4: After dinner Quotes

‘There can’t be that much difference between people and the way they live.
We all eat, talk, drink, laugh, wear clothes.’ (Lisa to Jeff) Scene 4

‘Well, if there’s one thing I know, it’s how to wear the proper clothes.’ (Lisa to Jeff) Scene 4

‘You’re too stubborn to argue with.’ (Lisa to Jeff) Scene 4

‘You don’t think either one of us could ever change?’
‘Right now it doesn’t seem so.’ (Lisa to Jeff) Scene 4