This could have been 90 minutes long, and I'm incredibly glad it's not. While the story could certainly have been told more efficiently, the fact that Hitchcock draws it out for so long is actually one of its greatest strengths.

It takes a long time for Lisa to become genuinely invested in Jeff's investigation of Thorwald. This could've been skimmed over, and it wouldn't even have been bad -- her character arc would be engaging even if it were shorter -- but it takes a lot of the runtime for her to become properly involved, and that makes it all the more satisfying when she does. Hitchcock chooses -- weirdly, but brilliantly -- to have Jeff show almost no romantic or sexual interest in Lisa until she's on board with his little voyeuristic detective project, too, even when she's actively kissing him, confusing and frustrating the audience to such a degree that when he does finally show an interest in her -- when she involves herself in his obsession, and he looks at her with newfound desire -- it's both satisfying from a character standpoint, and a great way of releasing audience tension.

Hitchcock does a wonderful job of making us doubt Jeff, too. By the time Lisa is breaking into Thorwald's apartment, there's a genuinely strong chance she's tresing illegally on the property of an innocent man; we're worried what'll happen to the characters if Thorwald is a murderer, but we're equally worried for their safety even if he's done nothing wrong -- he's been shown to have a temper, after all, and she has broken in and rooted around in his possessions -- meaning the audience is brimming with tension and anxiety for the safety of the protagonists, but still has no concrete answer to the central question of the entire film, a combination which results in one of the tensest scenes I've seen in a while.

And, right when the film is at its tensest and most uncertain, Thorwald looks directly down the barrel of the camera, and it's truly fucking unsettling. Hitchcock is a master of suspense, obviously -- everyone knows he's brilliant at building tension -- but it takes real talent to terrify an audience so simply, effortlessly, and powerfully. It's one of my favourite moments in cinema.

I don't think this is a perfect film, but I also can't bring myself to rate this any lower than 5, simply because it's one of the most well-crafted films I've ever seen, from its plot to its goddamn set to its character development. I wish I could watch it for the first time again.