Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Fred Zinneman’s High Noon are both considered artistic classics in their respective genres. Both films build and sustain enormous tension during the unfolding of their respective hero’s tales. Both also rely heavily on the cinematic elements of photography, mise-en-scene, and sound to achieve suspense and tension. However, both films contrast in the ways these elements are used to achieve this effect.
Both Hitchcock and Zinneman rely in photography to build tension and suspense. However, in Hitchcock’s film we are in tight, cramped and narrow confines, while in Zinneman’s film we have contrasting wide-open spaces. Both L. B. Jeffries (Jeff) and Marshall Will Kane are isolated men. Jeff is emotionally aloof while Kane is isolated from the other townsfolk. Jeff’s fears of commitment are in contrast to Will’s inability to shirk his duty. Jeff is not only confined by his emotional condition, but he is wheel-chair bound throughout the film. Tight shots, close-ups, and cluttered mise-en-scene serve to reinforce Jeff’s trapped nature. As Ebert writes, “The hero is trapped in a wheelchair, and we’re trapped too-trapped inside his point of view, inside his lack of freedom and his limited options” (1).
Will Kane’s events in real time, with shots of a ticking clock adding to the tension of his upcoming gunfight. As McGinnis notes, “The best part is the fact that the film takes place in near real time, which we are reminded of by a continual barrage of brief shots of a clock ticking away” (1). Photography is used over and over in the film to build tension and suspense or underscore the film’s themes. When the trio Will must face arrive in town, cross-cuts are used to show them arrive at the deserted station. When Amy returns to town, we see her from a high-angle shot that highlights her estrangement from Will. As Kane walks through town on his rounds, we see many...