Alfred Hitchcock Collectors Guide: Rear Window (1954), Part 3

by Brent Reid
Brent Reid
Post Views: 45

Home video

  • Clear window: preserved print and two separate restorations released across multiple formats
  • Breakdown: three versions but they’re in seven variant transfers, all detailed for the first time
  • Follows Universal’s usual pattern of incrementally improved releases over past few decades
  • Each new issue carries over (almost) all the previous extras and sometimes adds yet more

Note: this is part of an ongoing series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles; any dead links are to those not yet published. Subscribe to the email list to be notified when new ones appear.

Rear Window: Writing on a Classic, Pt 2: More writing | Collectors Guide, Pt 2: Soundtrack and essays, 3: Home video, 4: Remakes

Rear Window (1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) US 2000 re-release one sheet poster animated by Michael Branson Smith, 2012

US 2000 restoration re-release one sheet poster animated by Michael Branson Smith, 2012

Contents

Dream sequence version

In 1986, Universal re-edited Rear Window for TV broadcast, padding out its 112-minute running time by slowing down the opening credits and repeating the music to fit, and inserting several dream sequences for Jeff, compiled of blurry, repeated footage. Given Universal’s predilection for endlessly meddling with all the original, director-approved versions of their 14 Hitchcocks (but especially Vertigo and Psycho), I’m surprised they haven’t given us an alternative Rear Window ‘dream sequence version’ on home video. Seeing the altered segments as extras would be interesting but no new ones have been produced since 2008’s Legacy Series DVD.

Even more surprising is that Universal didn’t choose to convert it to 3D during the latest Avatar-driven wave of the format’s popularity; especially as it’s a more suitable scenario than the one film Hitch actually did shoot in the format, the apartment-bound Dial M for Murder. Back in 2012, at the time of Rear Window’s first appearance on BD, Writing with Hitchcock author Steven DeRosa had some fun with the concept of post-converting it for 3D release. He went as far as creating a fake blog, press release and videos, generating much discussion in the process. By strange coincidence, the following year Taiwanese bootleggers BitWel did release several (shoddily converted) Hitchcocks on 3D BD-R but no Rear Window.

1983 theatrical print

Rear Window (1954) UK 1983 re-release quad poster by Lonsdale & Bartholomew Ltd. Nottingham

UK 1983 re-release quad poster by Lonsdale & Bartholomew Ltd., Nottingham; see the entry for Suspicion. US posters were the basis for the first domestic VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc sleeves.

Rear Window is one of the five “Missing Hitchcocks” along with Rope, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo, which were largely withdrawn from circulation from 1967–1983. Their newly struck but fairly average-looking 35mm theatrical re-release prints, complete with cue blips and open matte aspect ratios, were also used for the first home video releases from 1984 onwards. Universal’s transfer chopped off the film’s closing curtains along with the logo of original distributors Paramount; it also cropped a little from the sides of the widescreen image and added much more top and bottom than was intended to be seen, as with the US 1962 re-release’s trailer. All VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc releases worldwide are open matte and all but two recycle the same transfer. Although the final US and Canadian VHSs from 2001 were released alongside the first DVD, sharing the same sleeve design and 2000 restoration, only the latter is in widescreen.

Columbia Daily Spectator, NY Times, Philadelphia Daily News, The Times

2000 restoration

↑ 2000 re-release trailer | Sharon Stone intro

Immediately following Vertigo’s expensive and widely publicised photochemical restoration in 1996, the same team of Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz administered similar life-saving treatment to Rear Window. This was achieved with Harris stating while it “was overprinted and the negative damaged, what was left of the original elements still had some vibrancy remaining and could be at least useful for something.” The much-vaunted results were re-released in cinemas worldwide from early 2000 to great success and first appeared on DVD a year later. The pair provided many enlightening interviews and soundbites, such as those below, to promote their photochemical restoration and several on-disc extras directly refer to it.

Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, CNN, Deseret News, Film History, Journal Record/part 2, New York Times, Salon, SFGate, Sun Sentinel | Columbia Daily Spectator, New York, Variety

All this publicity, the fact all extras including the 2000 restoration documentary have been carried through every release to the present day, and the later all-new digital restoration being completely unannounced, means most are under the mistaken impression the Harris-Katz version is on every release. In fact, it is only available on 35mm theatrical prints, the final North American VHSs mentioned above, and on every DVD ever issued; all DCPs and HD home video formats have the new digital restoration.

Nonetheless, all formats from DVD onwards feature a theatrically-accurate 1.66:1 aspect ratio transfer but with marginally different framings on successive releases. The primary English audio track and all dubs are in original 2.0 mono; thankfully there are no anachronistic surround remixes here, à la To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Psycho, etc. The 2000 revamp correctly reinstates the film’s film’s closing curtains along with the original Paramount logo. But what it does get wrong is to follow Harris and Katz’s usual conceit of placing their restoration credits at the end of the film, with extra score music playing over them, instead of at the beginning where they properly belong. There, they still do their job but are no more intrusive than trailers, presentations or anything else placed before the feature. When the lights come on, our thoughts should be on the artistry we’ve witnessed, not the latter-day technicalities involved in bringing it to the screen.

Rear Window (1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) Universal 2001 Canadian DVD

2001 Canadian DVD (rear)

Universal DVD box sets

Universal DVD box sets

The first round of DVDs all have a decent but slightly soft transfer which is a little brighter and sharper on the NTSC discs than their PAL counterparts. They carry a respectable selection of extras including the original script on DVD-ROM. Apart from the handful of examples detailed below, the exact same initial DVDs have been endlessly repackaged and reissued singly or in box sets everywhere since their first release.

2005 remaster

The film was remastered and reissued in 2005 as part of the US 15-DVD Masterpiece Collection and, minus the script, had the same extras as the previous disc. This same DVD has been repackaged and reissued in the US and Canada ever since.

Rear Window – Glenn Erickson

2008 remaster

A second refinement of the 2000 restoration appeared a few years later on US, France and Netherlands-only, Legacy Series/Special Edition 2-disc sets. Their marginally improved transfer is aided by the bulk of the extras being on the second disc, leaving the feature room for almost 1½ times its previous bitrate.

Newly added is an audio commentary by film scholar John Fawell, who clearly has a passion for this film, having authored at least four essays and a fine book devoted to it. But unsurprisingly, he makes no mention of the film’s versions or restoration anywhere, much like its countless other commentators – which is where my articles come in. There are also three new featurettes totalling 65 minutes and “Mr. Blanchard’s Secret”, an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents directed by the man himself. Apart from the latter, all extras have been ported over to Rear Window’s HD discs but this remains its peak on DVD.

2012 restoration

Rear Window (1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) Universal Blu-ray steelbook

BD steelbook artwork (rear)

Universal Blu-ray box sets

Universal Blu-ray box sets

As with Vertigo, when it came time to create a HD master for DCP, BD and then pending streaming services, Universal opted to abandon Rear Window’s 2000 photochemical restoration (and its obtrusive end credits) and, thanks to advances in digital tools, scan the original negative at 4K resolution. Without even realising the ensuing results are an entirely new restoration, most observers praised the results of the digital clean-up and regrade; a view not wholly shared by Robert Harris, who carried out the earlier restoration. The audio on all versions decidedly remains a mixed bag. Either way, owing to the increased resolution and lossless audio, it’s a much better option overall than the previous standard definition releases.

The Legacy Series DVD contents are essentially replicated on the BDs and latest UHD-BDs; in many countries the former has also been repackaged and reissued several times. Once again, said contents include the documentary Rear Window Ethics: Remembering and Restoring a Hitchcock Classic (2000, 55:10), despite it pertaining to the earlier restoration.

2020 remaster

Rear Window (1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) Universal US 4K UHD-BD steelbook

US 4K UHD-BD steelbook; more pics

Now Showing: worldwide screenings

Universal 4K UHD-BD box sets

Again as with Vertigo, the 2012 restoration was given a further digital clean-up and HDR pass, readying it for the latest generation of HD formats. Incidentally, Paramount also redid the opening and closing credits in at least German, since broadcast on TV, but naturally only the original English version has been released on home video. Note that in the dual format sets, only the Psycho BD has been remastered; the other three BDs are the exact same previously released discs. As ever, beware the bootlegs; basically anything not bearing Universal Studio’s imprimatur, such as Russia’s Deval BD-R.

Universal 4K UHD-BD box sets

Screenshots

All but the earliest of Rear Window’s ever-evolving transfers can be compared at the Hitchcock Zone, Caps-a-holic and below. Its audio too has changed over the years, though not always for the better.

Extras

Summary

US theatrical print

  • Standard definition, open matte transfer:
    • All VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc releases worldwide, except for 2001 US/Canada VHSs

2000 restoration

  • All DVDs worldwide and open matte 2001 US/Canadian VHSs, except for…

2005 remaster

  • DVDs: US/Canadian 2005–present

2008 remaster

  • DVDs: US/France/Netherlands Legacy Series/Special Edition

2012 restoration

  • All BDs and 2K DCPs

2020 remaster

  • All UHD-BDs, streaming copies and 4K DCPs

Rear Window: Writing on a Classic, Pt 2: More writing | Collectors Guide, Pt 2: Soundtrack and essays, 3: Home video, 4: Remakes

This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.

I started Brenton Film because I love film – quelle surprise! The silent era, 1930s and 1940s especially get my literary juices flowing, so you'll see a lot about those. For more, see the About page and read this before emailing.

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