how's your leg? and your stomach? and you love life? anything else bothering you? reading from top to bottom -- lisa -- carol -- fremont. only because it's expected of her. right off the paris plane. think it will sell? -- a steal at eleven hundred dollars. we sell a dozen a day in this price range. even if i had to pay, it would be worth it -- just for the occasion. going on right here. it's a big night. it's opening night of the last depressing week of l. b. jefferies in a cast. that's because i bought out the house. this cigarette box has seen better days. it's cracked -- and you never use it. and it's too ornate. i'm sending up a plain, flat silver one -- with just your initials engraved. i wanted to, jeff. oh! what would you think of starting off with dinner at the "21"? better than that. the "21." thank you for waiting carl. kitchen's on the left. i'll take the wine. just put everything right in the oven carl. on "low." let's open the wine now. it's a montrachet. big enough? i couldn't think of anything more boring and tiresome than what you've been through. and the last week must be the hardest. well, i'm going to make this a week you'll never forget. this will take care of the taxi as well. what a day i've had! not a bit. i was all morning in a sales meeting. then over to the waldorf for a quick drink with madame dufresne -- just over from paris. with some spy reports. back to the "21" for lunch with the harper's bazaar people -- that's when i ordered dinner. then two fall showings -- twenty blocks apart. then i had to have a cocktail with leland and slim hayward -- we're trying to get his next show. then i had to dash back and change. she looked very cool. she had on a mint green -- and to think, i planted three nice items about you in the columns today. you can't buy that kind of publicity. someday you might want to open up your own studio here. jeff -- isn't it time you came home? you could pick your assignment. make the one you want. yes. for yourself -- and me. i could get you a dozen assignments tomorrow. fashion, portraits -- don't laugh. -- i could do it! i could see you looking handsome and successful in a dark blue flannel suit. i'd better start setting up for dinner. that's what is know as "manless melancholia." oh? you can see my apartment all the way up on 63rd street? she's not in love with him -- or any of them. you said it resembled my apartment, didn't you? where's that music coming from? i think it's enchanting. almost as if it were being written especially for us. well, at least you can't say the dinner isn't right. there can't be that much difference between people and the way they live! we all eat, talk, drink, laugh, sleep, wear clothes -- if you're saying all this just because you don't want to tell me the truth, because you're hiding something from me, then maybe i can understand -- it doesn't make sense to me. what's so different about it here from over there, or any place you go, that one person couldn't live in both places just as easily? what is it but traveling from one place to another, taking pictures? it's just like being a tourist on an endless vacation. it's ridiculous for you to say that it can only be done by a special, private little group of anointed people. if your opinion is as rude as your manner, i'm not sure i want to hear it. you can't fit in here -- i can't fit in there. according to you, people should be born, live an die on the same -- of course not. oh, i do that all the time. whenever i have a few minutes after lunch. three. if there's one thing i know, it's how to wear the proper clothes. jeff, you don't have to be deliberately repulsive just to impress me i'm wrong. you're too stubborn to argue with. i know. a lesser man would have told me it was one long holiday -- and i would have awakened to a rude disillusionment. no. i don't particularly want that. so that's it. you won't stay here -- i can't go with you. you don't think either one of us could ever change? i'm in love with you. i don't care what you do for a living. somehow i would just like to be part of it. and it's deflating to find out that the only way i can be part of it -- is to take out a subscription to your magazine. i guess i'm not the girl i thought i was. not quite -- it seems. goodbye, jeff. i mean what i said. without any future? not for a long time. not, at least until -- -- tomorrow night. how far does a girl have to go -- before you notice her? well, "ain't i?" -- pay attention to me. your mind is. and when i want a man, i want all of him. i have one now. tell me about it. he likes the way his wife welcomes him home. homework. it's more interesting. nothing, thank heaven. i wouldn't dare answer that. and i'm afraid it's with me. something too frightful to utter. jeff -- i'll be honest with you -- you're beginning to scare me a little. jeff -- did you hear what i said? you're beginning to -- jeff -- if you could only see yourself. sitting around, looking out a window to kill time, is one thing -- but doing it the way you are -- -- with, with binoculars, and with wild opinions about every little movement you see -- is, is diseased! i don't know what you consider it -- but if you don't stop it, i'm getting out of here. what is it you're looking for? what makes you think something's wrong with her? a lot of things. she's an invalid who needs constant care -- and yet the husband nor anyone else has been in there all day. maybe she died. she could be under sedatives, sleeping. he's in the room now. there's nothing to see. maybe he's leaving his wife. i don't know, and i don't care. lots of people have saws, knives and ropes around their houses. lots of men don't speak to their wives all day. lots of wives nag, and men hate them, and trouble starts -- but very, very, very few of them end up in murder -- if that's what you're thinking. you could see all the things he did, couldn't you? you could see that he did because he had the shades in his apartment up, and walked along the corridor, and the streets and the backyard? jeff, do you think a murderer would let you see all that? that he shouldn't keep his shades down and hide behind them? and that's where you're not being clever. he wouldn't parade his crime in front of the open shades. for all you know -- there's something a lot more sinister going on behind those shades. don't you see how silly you're being? let's start from the beginning again, jeff. tell me everything you saw -- and what you think it means. the name on the second floor rear mailbox reads mr. and mrs. lars, that's l-a-r-s, lars thorwald. 125 west ninth street. okay, chief. what's my next assignment. all right -- but what's he doing now? it doesn't seem to be in any hurry. what about it? someone not his wife? i wonder where he's going now? suppose he doesn't come back again? well, i guess it's safe to put on some lights now. all day long i've tried to keep my mind on work. and you, and you friend doyle -- did you hear from him again -- since he left? it doesn't make sense to me. women aren't that unpredictable. a woman has a favorite handbag -- it always hangs on her bedpost where she can get at it. then she takes a trip and leaves it behind. why? but only her husband would know that. and the jewelry! women don't keep all their jewelry in a purse, all tangled, getting scratched and twisted up. they do not! and they don't leave it behind them. a woman going anywhere but the hospital would always take makeup, perfume and jewelry. basic equipment. you don't leave it behind in your husband's drawer in your favorite handbag. that mrs. thorwald left at six ayem yesterday with her husband? well, i have a pat rebuttal for mr. doyle -- that couldn't be mrs. thorwald -- or i don't know women. we'll agree they saw a woman -- but she wasn't mrs. thorwald. -- that is, yet. i'd like to see your friend's face when we tell him. he doesn't sound like much of a detective. don't rush me. we have all night. night. i'm going to stay with you. i have the whole weekend off. say anything else, and i'll stay tomorrow night too. you said i'd have to live out of one suitcase i'll bet yours isn't this small? a mark cross overnight case, anyway. compact, but ample enough. i'll trade you -- my feminine intuition for a bed for the night. there's that song again. where does a man get the inspiration for a song like that? it's utterly beautiful. i wish i could be creative. i do? surprise -- is the most important element of attack. and beside, you're not up on your private eye literature. when they're in trouble, it's always their girl friday who gets them out of it. the same. weird. why don't i slip into something comfortable? exactly what i had in mind -- along with some brandy. i'm just warming some brandy. mr. doyle? -- i presume. we think thorwald's guilty. the coffee will be ready soon. jeff, aren't you going to tell him about the jewelry? it was in her favorite handbag -- and, mr. doyle, that can lead to only one conclusion. it's just that women don't leave jewelry behind when they go on a trip. like disposing of their wives? you can't ignore the wife disappearing! and the trunk -- and the jewelry -- ! it might have been a woman -- but it couldn't have been mrs. thorwald. that jewelry -- of course, it's normal for a man to tie his trunk up with a heavy rope. didn't you take it to the crime lab? i would say that is looked as if she wasn't coming back. you're through with the case? i hate funny exit lines. look. i'm not much on rear window ethics. jeff -- if anybody walked in here, i don't think they'd believe what they see. you and me with long faces -- plunged into despair -- because we find out that a man didn't kill his wife. we're two of the most frightening ghouls i've ever known. you'd think we could be a little bit happy that the poor woman is alive and well. whatever happened to that old saying "love thy neighbor." not if i have to move into an apartment across the courtyard and do the dance of the seven veils once an hour. show's over for tonight. preview -- of the coming attractions. did mr. doyle think i stole this case. what do you think? i'll rephrase the question. do you like it? i'll be right back. but you're not? why would thorwald want to kill a dog? because it knew too much? is he cleaning house? stella, your choice of words -- jeff -- what are you looking for? it's just a picture of the backyard, that's all. mrs. thorwald! stella, please. it could be -- the knife, and the saw. no -- let's wait. let's wait until it gets dark. i'll go over and dig it up! wasn't that close? what was his reaction? i mean when he looked at the note? jeff -- how did i do? jeff -- the handbag. and the last thing she'd leave behind would be her wedding ring! do you ever leave yours at home? why not? i always wanted to meet mrs. thorwald. jeff, if you're squeamish, just don't look. what for? how? shall we vote him in, stella? let's go, stella. jeff! jeff! jeff -- jeff darling! get an ambulance. don't move. try to lie still. shut up. i'm all right.