Funny / Rear Window

• Here's a nice little bit of Gallows Humor for you.
  Lisa: The last thing Mrs. Thorwald would leave behind would be her wedding ring. Stella, do you ever leave yours at home?
  Stella: The only way somebody would get that would be to chop off my - finger. Let's go down to the garden and find out what's buried there.
  Lisa: Why not? I always wanted to meet Mrs. Thorwald.
  • Really, Stella is all about the dark/grim humor.
  Stella: He'd better get that trunk out of there before it starts to leak...
  (Jeff spits out the drink he's just swallowed)
• All of Jeff's nicknames for his neighbors, like calling the lonely lady Miss Lonelyhearts and the lady who dances in her bra and panties Miss Torso.
• "When two people love each other, they come together - WHAM - like two taxis on Broadway." Why thank you, Stella, for that charming description of what exactly love is.
• Jeff twice has to tell Lisa to shut up so he can finish a thought. What could've been rather harsh coming from anyone else is made hilarious by Jimmy Stewart.
• There's also something to be said for the tense, dark comedy of Jeff's frantic defense against Thorwald via Blinding Camera Flash.
• After Doyle gives Jeff and Lisa his reasons for doubting that Thorwald killed his wife:
  Lisa: Jeff, you know if someone came in here, they wouldn't believe what they'd see.
  Jeff: What?
  Lisa: You and me with long faces, plunged into despair because we find out 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 happier that the poor woman is alive and well. Whatever happened to that old saying: 'Love thy neighbor'?
  Jeff: You know, I think I'll start reviving that tomorrow. I'll begin with Miss Torso.
  Lisa: Not if I have to move into an apartment across the way and do the Dance of the Seven Veils every hour.
• The final shot of the film: a reprise of the first, panning across the various apartments and over onto Jeff's face, eyes closed and relaxed. The camera then pans down to show that both his legs are broken this time, on the same day he was supposed to get the cast-off.
• Jeff trying to eat his breakfast while Stella speculates about the details of the case:
  Stella: Where do you suppose he cut her up? Of course; the bathtub! That's the only place he could wash away the blood.
• Stella telling Lisa it's unlikely a body is actually in the garden:
  Stella: Unless he puts in standing on end which would be very original and not require the use of either a knife or a saw. My guess is she's scattered all over town. A leg in the East River...
  Lisa: Stella, please!
  • This becomes something of a Brick Joke in the ending when one of the officers mentions that Thorwald "is ready to take us on a tour of the East River."
• Jeff and Doyle's Snark-to-Snark Combat:
  Jeff: Do you want to solve this case or make me look foolish?
  Doyle: Well, if possible, both.
• After Thorwald has been captured, one of the officers mentions that Thorwald stashed part of his wife's corpse in a hatbox. Doyle asks Stella if she wants to go look, but Stella insists that she doesn't "want any part of it," and then realizes that she accidentally made a pun.

---