The 1954 Alfred Hitchcock thriller featuring James Stewart as a photographer confined to his apartment is Rear Window.
Stewart plays L. B. “Jeff” Jefferies, a photojournalist recovering from a broken leg in his Greenwich Village apartment. Unable to work or move freely, he watches neighbors through the rear window and becomes convinced that one of them has committed murder. Grace Kelly plays his girlfriend, Lisa Fremont, who helps investigate the suspicious events.
The film was adapted from Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story “It Had to Be Murder.” Hitchcock stages nearly the entire story from Jeff’s apartment and courtyard, turning restricted vision and voyeurism into sources of suspense. The elaborate courtyard was built inside Paramount Studios, allowing the production to control every visible detail.
A common mix-up is confusing Jeff’s profession with that of a newspaper reporter: he is specifically a professional photographer or photojournalist. Rear Window received four Academy Award nominations and entered the U.S. National Film Registry in 1997.