Paramount
The beauty, meaning, and subtlety of “Rear Window” grow considerably with each successive viewing: One of Hitchcock’s achievements here is the success with which he incorporates the darker tones and psychological intensity of his later works (“Vertigo,” “Psycho”) into an enjoyable, seemingly mainstream picture, which is fondly remembered by viewers and critics alike.
Oscar Context
Burks lost to Milton Krasner's work on "Three Coins in the Fountain," a CinemaScope travelogue (the movie was set in Rome) that in strategy is exactly the opposite from the insular and claustrophobic "Rear Window." Ryder, who captured impressively the sounds and noises of an urban inner courtyard, lost to Leslie I. Carey for "The Glenn Miller Story," which also starred Jimmy Stewart.
The one shocking loss was John Michael Hayes's superb screenplay, an adaptation of Cornell Woolrich's short story, "It Had to Be Murder," who was inexplicably defeated by George Seaton's pedestrian script for "The Country Girl."
That movie won Grace Kelly her first and only Best Actress Oscar. Kelly might have received a nomination for "Rear Window," were it not for her performance in the Seaton-directed melodrama, in which she appeared dowdy and deglamorized, the kind of thing that tends to impress Academy voters when it comes to beautiful stars.
As is well-known, Hitchcock had never won a legit, competitive Oscar.