The Art of Looking in Hitchcock's Rear Window (Limelight) Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Art Of Looking In Hitchcock's Rear Window" is a 196-page volume written by Stefan Sharff in 1997.For mega-fans of Alfred Hitchcock's much-heralded 1954 classic suspense movie, "Rear Window", this book can provide a fun way to pass some time.
This is very literally a "Movie in a book", with the emphasis on painstaking detail of every scene contained within the engrossing Hitchcock 115-minute flick.
Well, maybe I should have stopped short (above) of using the word "painstaking" to describe this volume.Because Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines "painstaking" as -- "diligent care and effort".While Sharff's work here might well be termed as "painstaking"; I'd also have to add that it's not painstaking enough!
I say this mainly due to the mountain of errors I found while perusing Chapter 4, entitled "Shot By Shot (With Timing And Dialogue)". This lengthy chapter of more than 70 pages purports to "provide the complete dialogue as heard in the film" (exact quote from the book).However, any die-hard fan of "Rear Window" (who has seen the film multiple times) will instantly recognize this "complete dialogue" claim to be vastly overstated.
There are HUGE chunks of dialogue missing from this "Shot-By-Shot" portion of the book.And an even greater number of mis-quotes from the film.I couldn't believe how much stuff was omitted here.On very nearly every page during this supposedly 'verbatim' text reference to every scene in the film I kept saying to myself -- "Nope. That's not exactly right either!". Or, on many other occasions, "Why has this line by Jefferies (or by Lisa Fremont) been left out here?".
One such blatant example of ignored dialogue occurs on page 123 of the book (during the description of an early scene between L.B. Jefferies (played by James Stewart) and Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly). .... After Lisa says "I don't care what you do for a living; I'd just like to be part of it somehow", the book just decides to cut out the next few lines for no apparent reason (which, as I mentioned, happens way too often during the course of this publication).
According to Sharff's text, the next line to be heard in the film (after the line spoken by Lisa that I just wrote above) is Jefferies saying: "Wait a minute" (a line which isn't in the movie AT ALL!).
What *should* have followed is a little more give-and-take between Lisa and "Jeff" at the end of this very good and well-done scene (a scene which has a poignant and bittersweet flavor to it).Lisa's next line is: "It's deflating to find out the only way I can be part of it is to take out a subscription to your magazine. I guess I'm not the girl I thought I was."
Jeff then comes back with: "Now, there's nothing wrong with you Lisa. You've got this town in the palm of your hand."To which Lisa responds: "Not quite it seems."
All of these lines I've mentioned are totally missing from this book's "Shot-By-Shot" chapter.Ridiculous!To leave out a word or two here or there is certainly understandable in a work like this one, where an entire movie script is being re-played in print form.But here, enormous hunks of important lines are cut out, willy-nilly!
Lisa's "magazine subscription" line, in fact, is a very clever line in the movie, both funny and sad at the same time.It's one of my favorite lines in this film.To omit it (and many others that follow) displays just plain carelessness and negligence on the part of the author, in my opinion.For, how difficult is it to get the lines correct for a publication like this?Just watch the movie beginning to end, and write down every word spoken.But this obviously wasn't done in this case.Curious.Most curious indeed.
Now, even though I frown at all the sloppy omissions and errors that prevail in this volume, it *is* still a fun book to browse through (for the many pictures if nothing else).A lot of the photos in the book are of subpar quality, being taken (I think) directly from a VHS video source, which doesn't really flatter the material (kind of blurry and non-detailed).There are, however, many excellent-quality photographs contained on these pages. The crystal-clear pics are (I think) mostly "publicity stills".
A few of these "production photos" (plus a bunch more) can also be found among the "Special Features" on the superlative "Rear Window" Collector's Edition DVD, produced by Universal Home Video.
Despite my negative comments above, I still like having this book in my collection (mainly because I enjoy behind-the-scenes stuff involving films directed by "The Master", Alfred Hitchcock).
If you pick up this item of bound printed matter, just don't expect it to be anywhere near comprehensive or complete in terms of a "word-for-word" account of the motion picture. Because it's far from earning that distinction.

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Product Description:
Illustrated throughout with stills from the film, The Arts of Looking is a unique appreciation of the art of Alfred Hitchcock, made even more valuable by the first publication in any form of the full dialogue of a screen masterpiece.

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