MovieChat Forums > Rear Window (1954) Discussion > When Miss Torso dropped her top in the b...

When Miss Torso dropped her top in the beginning


Was it scripted or by accident?

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bump

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You can bet it was scripted. It's a Hitchcock picture.

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Not in the script I read online, in fact the beginning I read was different front the filmed scene.

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Scripts are almost always altered, before and during shooting. If you are referring to the script that is available on imdb…let me give you an example: Miss Hearing Aid is described as a very thin, almost emaciated lady in her 70s. Obviously, they changed that.

You may cross-examine.

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Scripted or not, that seemed like a very deliberate, carefully choreographed action to me. Whoever's idea it was, it was brilliant.

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"Scripted or not, that seemed like a very deliberate, carefully choreographed action to me. Whoever's idea it was, it was brilliant." - zharth

I've looked at this scene again and I agree that it must have been part of a very well-planned routine, not accidental. The entire shot lasts about 82 seconds, starting with the old couple waking up on the fire escape, followed by Miss Torso's scene (including the bra drop and pick up) and ending with a close-up of a pile of magazines in Jeff's apartment.

It presumably required actors and extras in at least 5 different areas of the set to be given meticulously-timed cue ins via the shortwave radio link. If Georgine Darcy's bra drop had been entirely unplanned, then she and the crew did extremely well to keep the scene running through to its conclusion. You would have expected her to hesitate and/or start looking around outside her apartment to the crew for advice whilst also struggling to cover her chest, yet she immediately picks up her bra, fastens it correctly and continues with her scene, completely unfazed - and we don't see any extra flesh that might have caused trouble with the Breen Office (censor).

I also notice that her back is directly facing the camera when the incident happens and she manages to pick the bra up again at exactly the same angle, thus preventing any potential side boob exposure that would have led to the whole scene having to be cut. It all seems too neat and convenient the way it turned out to possibly be unintended. If it really had been unplanned, one could imagine a lot of the (male) crew immediately breaking out into laughter - and I reckon Hitchcock's laugh would have been the loudest of all, as he would have loved something like that to amuse himself! I bet that is why he included it, but in a carefully controlled way. He knew what the audience wanted - well half the audience anyway!

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Great analysis. Thanks for that.

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Positive it was scripted.

Clip of Georgine Darcy in the opening credits of "Harrigan & Son"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVMyzKzLxiU

Back in my day we had nine planets

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I'd like to see that script with it.

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