Synopsis

Confined to his Greenwich Village apartment with a broken leg, photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies passes the time observing his neighbors through the rear window. When he suspects one man has murdered his wife, Jeff enlists his girlfriend and nurse to investigate. Their snooping gradually exposes hidden lives while placing them in increasing danger.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film adapts Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder," originally published under Woolrich's pseudonym William Irish.

• Its entire apartment courtyard was constructed on Paramount's Stage 18. The set measured approximately 38 feet wide, 185 feet long, and 40 feet high, and the stage floor was removed so the courtyard could occupy a lower level.

• Four photographers were sent to New York to capture details of Greenwich Village architecture, lighting, and weather for the studio recreation.

• The courtyard set reportedly took about two months to build and cost between $75,000 and $100,000.

• Nearly all of the music is heard as part of the apartment building's soundscape, including radio broadcasts and music drifting from neighboring rooms. The main exception is the composer's original piece, "Lisa."

• Songwriter and performer Ross Bagdasarian appears as the struggling composer. He later became famous under the name David Seville as the creator of the Chipmunks recordings.

• The background recording of "To See You (Is to Love You)" is sung by Bing Crosby and had previously appeared in the 1952 film *The Road to Bali*.

• The film received four Academy Award nominations: Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound Recording.

• The film was ranked No. 48 on the American Film Institute's 2007 edition of its list of the greatest American movies. It also placed No. 3 on AFI's list of the ten greatest mystery films.

• Color fading damaged the original negative over the decades, but restoration work brought the film's appearance close to its original coloration.