Jeffries on the phone
Why does he whisper when he's on the phone? Does he think Lars has Superman-styled hearing?
He'll whisper on the phone but talk normally when people are in the room. It makes no sense.
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First of all, Hitchcock dug the "weird sound effect" of Stewart delivering all his lines in whispers at this particular point. He did this in a climactic scene in Stage Fright, too, but perhaps knew that Rear Window -- his first movie for Paramount -- would be a bigger hit, and the whispers would be heard by more people.
In terms of the plot, I think it was established that STEWART could hear some of the voices across the way(like when Burr told the one woman "Why don't you shut up?") so why take the risk that he could be hear by Burr?
To those two answers - one justifiable stylistically and the other logically - I'll add a third: what it connotes in terms of Jeff's state of mind and the mood of the scene; conspiratorial, clandestine and urgent.
We've all seen comedies where characters, often sneaking around somewhere, are conversing in whispers until one says, "Why are we whispering?" "I dunno," answers the other.
Sometimes you do it because it just feels like you should. Hubby and I have always had unsynchronized body clocks; he's an early riser (like 3AM) and I'm a night owl. And for some time after we first moved in together, we'd converse in hushed tones during our wee-small-hours overlap periods, until one of us finally said, "Why are we talking like this? There's nobody else in the house."
You'll notice that, when the phone rings a moment later and Jeff assumes it's Doyle, he speaks in a more normal tone as he says, "Tom? I think Thorwald's left. I don't see anything..." We need that more relaxed casualness at that point so the horrible moment of realization that it isn't Tom on the other end of the line will have the necessary, Oh--My--God impact.
To those two answers - one justifiable stylistically and the other logically - I'll add a third: what it connotes in terms of Jeff's state of mind and the mood of the scene; conspiratorial, clandestine and urgent.
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True. Here it is part of how Hitchcock adds to his famous suspense formula...Rear Window is a movie that builds and builds and builds, and Stewart's urgent whispering works on our nerves.
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We've all seen comedies where characters, often sneaking around somewhere, are conversing in whispers until one says, "Why are we whispering?" "I dunno," answers the other.
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Ha. True. When you think about it, whispering is a pretty weird way to use one's voice.
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Sometimes you do it because it just feels like you should. Hubby and I have always had unsynchronized body clocks; he's an early riser (like 3AM) and I'm a night owl. And for some time after we first moved in together, we'd converse in hushed tones during our wee-small-hours overlap periods, until one of us finally said, "Why are we talking like this? There's nobody else in the house."
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Ha. Again...truly whispering can be a matter of politeness and courtesy...even when it is not necessary.
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You'll notice that, when the phone rings a moment later and Jeff assumes it's Doyle, he speaks in a more normal tone as he says, "Tom? I think Thorwald's left. I don't see anything..." We need that more relaxed casualness at that point so the horrible moment of realization that it isn't Tom on the other end of the line will have the necessary, Oh--My--God impact.
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I call this moment one of the great "frissons" in movie history. That's a French word which kinda/sorta can only be defined by describing it: the moment when Jeff realizes he's talking to the killer, and NOW the killer know who he is.
I first saw Rear Window when it opened the 1966-1967 season of "NBC Saturday Night at the Movies" and while I remember the viewing(at home, with family) in a fairly weak way overall, I will ALWAYS remember that moment on the phone -- it was rather a "seminal" moment in terms of my FEELING(not seeing, not understanding) exactly how Hitchcock's type of movie delivered the entertainment goods. I was very excited by that moment, totally involved as Lars Thorwald made his sound-effects heavy march over to Jeff's room for a final confrontation.
Weirdly, I have always linked that moment with the phone to the more violent moment in "Wait Until Dark" in which Richard Crenna is in a doorway talking to blind Audrey Hepburn -- and suddenly convulses from a knife in the back. He has been stabbed by psycho Alan Arkin and he falls forward, dead. As with "the fatal phone call," the bad guy is here, the final confrontation is imminent.
The frisson.