Last summer I
saw Hitchcock’s classic thriller “Rear Window” and needless to say absolutely
loved it. From the oh-so-lovely Grace Kelly & her excellent sartorial
choices in an otherwise grim thriller…to the setting of the film…the Hitchcock
direction (that was a Midas touch to thrillers)…to the fact that the whole
movie was shot on one set & with just five actors in total and still kept
the viewer hooked on…to the plot of the film that starts slow & then hooks
you on minute by minute…it was all excellent. A little digging up on the movie
brought me to the source of its screenplay; Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story
“It Had to be Murder”, that was adapted into this movie by Hitchcock.
For those interested to read the story, here is the PDF link to the original:
I found this PDF after some digging on the net & settled down to read it.
I simply adore the world of short stories. I absolutely agree with the concept & often marvel at the fact that what novels want to convey in many pages, short stories end up doing in just so less!! In fact I find it an ever more daunting task, as not only are you trying to express the seriousness of your literary intent to your reader who might easily equate heavy volumes to more refined works of literature; but you have just a few pages & words to introduce your characters, create them in the mind of your reader (remember, it is not a film, in a written story character creation takes time), introduce your plot, give it a twist & then its end & leave the reader wowed!! IT IS A TASK.
Therefore it was amazing to think how Woolrich could have written a taut thriller in all but 12 pages!!
It Had…follows a first person narrative and centres on Hal Jeffries who is confined in his apartment in a chair due to some unexplained reason for some time (it is implied that his leg is in a cast at the end of the story). His movement restricted & with nothing better to do, since it is 1942 and there is not so much television and no internet J and our man does not prefer the company of books either. Therefore, Hal turns to the next best thing, i.e, playing peeping tom through his rear window on all his neighbours whom he can observe. Observing them for a few days, he forms a pattern of these various apartment dwellers in his mind – the young, boisterous, fun-loving careless couple in one apartment; a single mother with young child who probably moonlights at night as a hooker in another; a lonely young man living in another; a middle aged couple where the wife is always ill in another & so on…until…his observation leads him to believe that one of his neighbours is a possible murderer & has committed one recently right in the apartment!!
Woolrich’s story itself was inspired by H.G.Wells classic short story “Through the Window” written in 1894 and was given a lovely pulp fiction version. However, it is amazing to know that so many years have passed, but this plot & this story remains as intriguing, plausible and adaptable as ever.
For those interested to read the story, here is the PDF link to the original:
I found this PDF after some digging on the net & settled down to read it.
I simply adore the world of short stories. I absolutely agree with the concept & often marvel at the fact that what novels want to convey in many pages, short stories end up doing in just so less!! In fact I find it an ever more daunting task, as not only are you trying to express the seriousness of your literary intent to your reader who might easily equate heavy volumes to more refined works of literature; but you have just a few pages & words to introduce your characters, create them in the mind of your reader (remember, it is not a film, in a written story character creation takes time), introduce your plot, give it a twist & then its end & leave the reader wowed!! IT IS A TASK.
Therefore it was amazing to think how Woolrich could have written a taut thriller in all but 12 pages!!
It Had…follows a first person narrative and centres on Hal Jeffries who is confined in his apartment in a chair due to some unexplained reason for some time (it is implied that his leg is in a cast at the end of the story). His movement restricted & with nothing better to do, since it is 1942 and there is not so much television and no internet J and our man does not prefer the company of books either. Therefore, Hal turns to the next best thing, i.e, playing peeping tom through his rear window on all his neighbours whom he can observe. Observing them for a few days, he forms a pattern of these various apartment dwellers in his mind – the young, boisterous, fun-loving careless couple in one apartment; a single mother with young child who probably moonlights at night as a hooker in another; a lonely young man living in another; a middle aged couple where the wife is always ill in another & so on…until…his observation leads him to believe that one of his neighbours is a possible murderer & has committed one recently right in the apartment!!
The story
wastes no time in setting a premise but jumps straight to explaining business.
The plot thickens beautifully line by line in the story. It is marvellous how
after 71 odd years the story still has many nail-biting moments, especially
when Hal plays the peeping tom & makes discoveries of his new observations.
The sheer brilliance of revealing yet not revealing, supposing yet not
supposing of a possible outcome in a home next door is truly delicious for suspense
lovers. As a reader you are anticipated & on your toes and start imagining
yourself in Hal’s position & can actually see the scene unfolding yet not
in front of you. Try looking at a neighbour’s house from your own (try not to
be caught thoughJ) for a minute, what is going on in there from your naked eye
observation, can mean many things at the same time. This is the brilliance of
this story.
No wonder
the story has transcended time & after Rear Window was loosely adapted by
Brian De Palma in his 1984 thriller Body Double and in 2007 Shia LaBeouf’s “Disturbia”,
that goes by the tagline – every serial killer lives next door to someone!!Woolrich’s story itself was inspired by H.G.Wells classic short story “Through the Window” written in 1894 and was given a lovely pulp fiction version. However, it is amazing to know that so many years have passed, but this plot & this story remains as intriguing, plausible and adaptable as ever.
Thanks for the link of short story. I found my way to your blog through the oxford fb page. Since you like short stories, I'd like to suggest Somerset Maugham's short stories. In fact, I am reading it right now.
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