James Stewart's halting speech makes thought seem to happen as he speaks. We rate him highest in Hitchcock's thrillers, where his friendly curiosity draws us into watching people we have no business watching.
Fi1m perspective
In Rear Window (1954), James Stewart watches a courtyard and makes the occupation seem reasonable enough for us to join him. As L.B. Jefferies, he makes curiosity companionable, so that we share his interest before considering what business it is of ours. The drawl and the pauses make him sound as though he is still finding the words. Alfred Hitchcock gets exceptional work from him by letting that approachable manner draw us towards conduct we ought to question.
Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) established Stewart's idealistic everyman, and It's a Wonderful Life (1946) continued their collaboration after the war. His later work gave audiences men troubled by obsession, guilt and moral uncertainty. Anthony Mann's western The Naked Spur (1953) belongs to that harder stretch of the career, with Stewart playing a rugged, conflicted lead. His Hitchcock performances make particular use of our willingness to trust him.
That trust is not all that sustains Rear Window. John Michael Hayes's screenplay gives Stewart and Grace Kelly time to be funny and attracted to each other, and Stewart's nosiness does not overwhelm the romance. Some of their dialogue sounds too carefully prepared, but the warmth between Jefferies and Kelly's Lisa Fremont keeps the film from becoming merely an exercise in spotting clues. Stewart can interest us in the man doing the watching as much as in whatever he sees.
Vertigo (1958) makes his attention harder to bear. His detective, Scottie Ferguson, follows Kim Novak's Madeleine Elster through San Francisco, and his concentration grows oppressive. We felt uncomfortable during those prolonged journeys because Stewart makes Scottie's interest seem increasingly like an entitlement to her life. He retains enough ordinary human appeal that we cannot simply dismiss him and stop thinking about what he is doing. The mystery is far-fetched and some journeys drag, but the patience lets us feel how much emotional weight Scottie places on a woman he is watching.
Not every Hitchcock collaboration suited him: Stewart found the technical demands of Rope (1948) challenging and felt miscast. There is no need to pretend that the familiar manner could serve every part equally well. Start with Rear Window for the humour and warmth; allow Vertigo an evening when discomfort is welcome.
Biography
James Stewart was an American actor. He appeared as L.B. Jefferies in Rear Window (1954) and as Det. John 'Scottie' Ferguson in Vertigo (1958). He was born on 20 May 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and died on 2 July 1997.
Stewart starred in many films including It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Rope (1948), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He served in the United States Air Force Reserve, rising to the rank of Brigadier General, and was a veteran of the Second World War and the Vietnam War.
