Wed 15 Jun 2011
Reviewed by Curt Evans: CORNELL WOOLRICH – Rear Window and Other Stories.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[8] Comments
Cornell Woolrich’s Rear Window and Other Stories
A Review by Curt J. Evans
CORNELL WOOLRICH – Rear Window and Other Stories. Penguin, paperback, 1994. First published as Rear Window and Four Short Novels: Ballantine, paperback original, 1984.
There have been so many Cornell Woolrich short story collections collected over the years that one can enter into an agonizing state of suspense just trying to decide which of these collections to buy. Fortunately I can assure you — if you do not know it already — that this particular collection is a corker.
Interestingly, not only is the title short story (“Rear Window,†1942) associated with that cinematic master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, so are the collection’s additional four tales: “Post-Mortem†(1940), “Three O’Clock†(1938), “Change of Murder†(1936) and “Momentum†(1940). Indeed, I strongly suspect this is why they are collected here in this volume.
Rear Window of course, is one of Hitchcock’s great films, while “Post-Mortem,†“Change of Murder†and “Momentum†all were filmed for the memorable television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents (“Change of Murder†as “the Big Switchâ€) and “Three O’Clock†was directed by Hitchcock himself for the fifties television series Suspicion.
I have seen all of these adaptations bar “Three O’Clock†and all are first class mystery entertainment. (“Three O’Clock†was retitled “Four O’Clock” and shown as the first episode of Suspicion on 30 September 1957. I have never seen an episode of this series.)
Woolrich’s “Rear Window†is an excellent story, but for me it has been rather upstaged by the film. Not so the rest, however. Of the remaining four stories the most minor is the early Woolrich tale “Change of Murder,†though it a clever little piece with a nice twist in the tail (it also is the shortest of the five by far).
“Momentum†is a strong work (again with a fine twist), but my absolute favorites in this collection are “Post-Mortem†and “Three O’Clock.†Though I have great admiration for the droll television adaptation of the former (with its excellent performances by Joanna Moore, Tatum O’Neal’s mother, and Steve Forrest, a brother of Dana Andrews), I found the story easily stands on its own as a biting and ironic domestic suspense classic rather on the order of Dorothy L. Sayers’ brilliant “Suspicion.†Quite a bit of plot complexity is packed into this tale (which was streamlined in the adaptation).
As indicated above, “Three O’Clock†was completely new to me, and I found it a powerful screw turner of tension. Again the tale has a domestic setting, but where “Post-Mortem†is black comedy, “Three O’Clock†is just blackly grim — and powerfully and memorably so.
Suspense is remorselessly (if at times improbably) drawn out and the twist, when it came, took me totally by surprise. I hesitate to say anything in detail about the plot for those who have not read the tale or seen the television adaptation. To those people: just read it!
Rear Window and Other Stories seems to me a great place to start a literary relationship with the great master of suspense Cornell Woolrich. It is also one to return to again and again … if you dare. Unpleasant dreams!
June 15th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
These are some of the stories that made me a lifelong fan of Cornell Woolrich, starting back when I first read them in the mid-1950s.
As Curt says, you can’t go wrong with this one. (Although some readers simply do not care for Woolrich’s prose. They call it “purple” or “overwrought” or even “pulpish.” It is their loss.)
Just as a warning, though, IBooks did another collection called REAR WINDOW in the early 2000s, but the contents are far different from the one Curt reviewed:
“Rear Window”, “I Won’t Take a Minute”, “Speak to Me of Death”, “The Dancing Detective” (aka “Dime a Dance”), “The Light in the Window”, “The Corpse Next Door”, “You’ll Never See Me Again”, “The Screaming Laugh”, “Dead on Her Feet”, “Waltz”, “The Book That Squealed”, “Death Escapes the Eye”, and “For the Rest of Her Life.”
Truly, though, this not much of a warning. These are all terrific, top-notch stories, and if you happen onto this book by mistake, you’ll enjoy every one of them.
June 16th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Steve, must have been fun reading these back in the 1950s. I just bought a 1952 paperback copy of the late Woolrich novel Strangler’s Serenade–what a cover (will review this one)!
I have owned this Woolrich volume of short stories for seventeen years and had never read because I was familiar with four of them through Hitchcock adaptations (I was a devoted Alfred Hitchcock Presents fan). But I am glad I did read the tales now–especially Three O’Clock, which was totally new to me.
June 16th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Well I couldn’t resist going to “Abebooks” and order me a copy.
haven’t read any Woolrich yet but being a Hitchcock-fan since the 70’s I couldn’t resist after reading this review.
Thanks!
Henk from the Netherlands
June 17th, 2011 at 9:09 am
Of Woolrich’s stories I’ve always liked “One Drop of Blood” – a truly ingenious story about a seemingly insignificant bit of evidence that remains hidden for the entirety of the story until a character does one simple action and the main suspect’s alibi evaporates.
I was just researching several of the film versions of Woolrich’s novels for a bookselling catalog (I always mention them when writing book desctriptions). At imdb.com I was amazed at how often his stories were adapted for TV. “Three O’Clock” had three other adaptations not mentioned above: Robert Montgomery Presents, Boris Karloff Mystery Playhouse and Actor’s Studio. In one of the many Woolrich anthologies I own edited by Mike Nevins there is a huge filmography listing of all the Woolrich/Irish/Hopley movies and TV shows. There sure were a lot of them. If only they were all available for viewing in one place. Like a multiple DVD collection of some sort. That would be some undertaking, wouldn’t it?
June 17th, 2011 at 11:37 am
It’s a great idea, John. Super duper all the way. I’ll forward your comment on to Mike Nevins. If anyone can make it happen, he’s the one!
June 17th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Henk,
that’s great–Woolrich wrote a lot of fine stories, I think!
There have been a couple recent collection edited by Mike Nevins, but still many that have not been reprinted, from what I can tell.
Why in the world are Cornell Woolrich’s stories not collected in Library of America, I wonder?
One of the novels, I noticed, has been reissued by Modern Library in their 20th Century Rediscoveries series.
June 17th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Steve –
If Mike takes up your challenge I wish him all the luck in the world tracking down all the rights and the kinescopes and all the rest of it. It would be some amazing set though. I’d spend good money to own soemthing like that. Especially if it included the hard to find films like Street of Chance (movie version of THE BLACK CURTAIN) which I’ve wanted to see for over ten years now.
October 4th, 2022 at 4:27 am
[…] in several short story collections and, in this manner, it’s been reviewed, among others by Curtis Evans at Mystery File, and Bev Hankins at My Reader’s […]