A gaffe, a question of speed and charming bumbling
Do I rate RW higher than Vertigo? You betcha! Vertgo probably is the better film of the two, but nowhere near that entertaining. I would say RW is indeed a perfectly constructed film with an absolute marvelous ending.
A couple of comments and questions.
1. Although Hitchcock keeps pretty consistent in the timing of Thorwald getting from the street into his apartment, at one time he does not. When Thorwald comes back with suites from the cleaners (when the car horns when he passes the street). We see the camera slowly panning from him in the street, up to miss Torso and than we immediately see Thorwald coming down the hallway. Hmmm, is he training for the OLympics?
2. During the fight between Jeff and THorwald we see several shots of people coming towards the noise while this is speed up. Is this intentional or simply a technical error. I thgought the bluray restoration surely would have corrected this, but to my surprise it was still in there. Anyone any explanation for this?
3. Kelly makes two dialogue errors: one while lying on the couch talking arguing with Stewart and the second one while standing and talking about how people would listen to their conversation they would think they are the most frightening ghouls they'd ever seen. And Stewart makes one error when he says: "You're not going out there and get your own...YOUR neck broken." I like it that Hitchcock has left these in, it's very charming.
4. What does Stewart mean when he says: "Stella was wrong about miss Lonelyhearts"? We see this woman taking a paper and pencil when he says this, so what does Stewart deduce from this? It would be logical to assume that she is about to write a suicide note. So in WHAT way does Stewart think Stella was wrong?
5. This probably wasn't Hitchcock's intention, but when the wife of the newlyweds says "Larry!" when he stands at the window in boxershorts and shirt smoking a cigarette, I always get the impression that she wants him back in bed, while he is getting tired of it. I don't believe this to be the intent of Hitchcock, rather to point out the growing discontent between the two. Still, you CAN interpret it that way, can't you?
The ending I find superior. We see the newlyweds argue: he is annoyed and she is nagging. They have become the Thorwalds edition 2, potentially starting the same cycle all over again. Since Stewart already broke his other leg, perhaps next time a broken arm will be the result?