Rear Window premieres!...again

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on August 4, 1954. So, before August was out I held my own Rear Window screening party at the living room theater of Stilwell Road. The 1954 premiere was a benefit for the American-Korean Foundation, an aide organization formed at the end of the Korean War and was attended by more than 2,000 United Nations officials, entertainers and social leaders.

Grace Kelly at the premiere

The 2011 viewing was attended by more than 7 tree-hugging hippies, film buffs and park rangers and benefited no one in particular. The world premiere at the Rivoli Theatre was shown on an enormous slightly rounded screen that gave the audience the illusion of peripheral vision. The effect must have been especially effective for a movie filmed largely through the eyes of one character. We watched on a 24 inch Sanyo but had the benefit of something more rare and enjoyable than a large screen, Elana's Blackberry Cake, but I digress. The New York Times published mostly favorable reviews of Rear Window following the premiere.

They described Hitchcock as “the old thrill-billy” whose film is “morbidly entertaining” and exposes us to the “boorish but fascinating pastime of peeking into other people’s homes – a thing that New York apartment dwellers have a slight disposition to do.” Can anyone in NYC tell me if New Yorkers still have a disposition to do such a thing? 

Despite being listed #22 on IMDB’s top 250 movies of all time, today’s audience gave more of a mixed review. Some thought it was a little slow, especially by today’s standards, some enjoyed the building of the suspense and the girls all enjoyed discussing Grace Kelly’s dresses. One moviegoer expressed surprise…not by the ending of the movie but that he liked it at all. “I thought it was going to be another one of Eric’s weird movies but I was surprised. I actually liked it” said park ranger Matt Eng. So I’d say the first ever Rear Window viewing party was a smashing success.