The Woman In The Window

Fritz Lang - 1944
Lang, so completely masterful. Watch the switches between points of view in the SRS scenes, taken away, close up. This is talked about by Bordwell and Thompson, as are the gestures, the pointing and so on.
Lang's mastery in Hollywood, as I see it, is partly about how he keeps the brilliant incisiveness of his full frame compostions, the definition of dynamic, even as his takes get longer, steadycam-esque movements come in. He still corresponds to things always happening, movements clear, camera often set up already and someone coming in, but allied to this more fluid style. His is a cinema of things happening, of action. This is perhaps his difference, his greater classicism (not very difficult) compared to Hitchcock; he focusses on the actions, the outer, and Hitchcock on the inner. One could say a lot from preference, which is more 'true' or important; the master is the master, but I'm a Langian.
The story construction seems like 'Scarlet Street', Robinson drawn in, except he is colder. Sexual desire underneath, most clearly in the framing device. It's quite simple; violence is there, in the streets, in the library. This is also nearly two films; Robinson's police story, and Bennett's case with the kidnapper. Would crosscutting have diluted suspense? Suspense is very big here; never fatalistic or hugely humourous (a little maybe), we still find out more at times, we worry about clues left behind; it is classic suspense.