Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) belongs indisputably among the director's acknowledged masterpieces of suspense. It sprang from an inspired three-picture collaboration during the 1950s with James Stewart (The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1955, and Vertigo, 1959) and marked the flowering of the director's Technicolor period (he had ventured into color only twice previously, the first time for Rope in 1948, starring Stewart). Rear Window continues to be shown regularly on television, at retrospectives of both Hitchcock and Stewart's films, and as an occasional movie theater rerun. It not only endures in popularity but also, despite repeated viewing, never loses its suspense and fascination for the viewer. Rear Window is a virtual master class in the concerns, obsessions, and techniques that continue to distinguish Hitchcock's work from that of any filmmaker working in the suspense thriller genre.

Collaborating closely with Hitchcock, John Michael Hayes wrote the skillfully constructed screenplay, in...