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50 free Rear Window trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Rear Window trivia quiz covers Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 thriller from every angle a fan could want. There are plot questions on L. B. Jefferies, Lisa Fremont, Stella, Lars Thorwald, Miss Torso, Miss Lonely-Hearts and the songwriter, and production questions on the enormous Greenwich Village courtyard built on Paramount's Stage 18, the 90-second opening shot, the four lighting set-ups, the drainage system for the rain scene, and Hitchcock's clock-winding cameo. It also follows the film's afterlife: Cornell Woolrich's short story It Had to Be Murder, the Supreme Court fight over its rights, the years it spent locked away as one of the Forbidden Five, the Christopher Reeve remake, the Disturbia lawsuit, De Palma's homages and Taylor Swift's borrowed dress. Cast questions reach from Grace Kelly's Edith Head wardrobe to the Chipmunks creator at the piano and the future Perry Mason across the courtyard. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the film, its source story and its cast, and each question quotes the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In what year was Rear Window released?
1954
It premiered at a UN benefit at New York's Rivoli Theatre that August and competed for the Golden Lion at Venice.
Q 02Who plays the laid-up hero, L. B. 'Jeff' Jefferies?
James Stewart
It was the second of his four Hitchcock films, between Rope and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Q 03Who plays Jeff's socialite girlfriend, Lisa Fremont?
Grace Kelly
She made three Hitchcock films in two years and retired at 26 to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Q 04What is Jeff's profession?
Photojournalist
He is laid up with a leg cast from an assignment injury, which is why he has nothing to do but watch the courtyard.
Q 05In which New York neighborhood is Jeff's apartment?
Greenwich Village
The film gives the address as 125 W. Ninth Street, but the set was modeled on a real courtyard at 125 Christopher Street.
Q 06Who plays Stella, the plain-spoken nurse who tends to Jeff?
Thelma Ritter
She earned six Oscar nominations in her career, though not for this one; her line about eyes and a red-hot poker skewers Jeff's snooping.
Q 07Which future Perry Mason plays the suspected wife-killer Lars Thorwald?
Raymond Burr
He spent the early part of his career playing villains and later starred as Ironside as well.
Q 08What is Lars Thorwald's job?
Costume-jewelry salesman
His sample case is what Jeff sees him carrying in and out on the night of the scream.
Q 09Who plays Jeff's skeptical detective friend, Tom Doyle?
Wendell Corey
Doyle's theory is that Mrs. Thorwald simply went upstate on vacation.
Q 10What nickname does Jeff give the professional dancer across the courtyard?
Miss Torso
Georgine Darcy, a New York City Ballet dancer, was cast from a publicity photo in a leotard and feather boa and paid $350.
Q 11What does the neighbor dubbed 'Miss Lonely-Hearts' do that Jeff watches?
Pantomimes dates with imaginary suitors
Judith Evelyn played her; late in the film she nearly overdoses before the songwriter's finished tune stops her.
Q 12The songwriter with writer's block was played by Ross Bagdasarian, who later created what?
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Under the name David Seville he had a 1958 hit with 'Witch Doctor' before the Chipmunks made him rich.
Q 13What is the title of the song the songwriter finally completes near the end of the film?
Lisa
Q 21In the final shot, what does Lisa swap her book for once Jeff dozes off?
A fashion magazine
She has been pretending to read a travel-exploration book to fit Jeff's world; the switch is the film's last joke.
Q 22Rear Window is based on a 1942 short story by which crime writer?
Cornell Woolrich
'It Had to Be Murder' first ran in Dime Detective Magazine; Woolrich also wrote as William Irish.
Q 23Who wrote the screenplay for Rear Window?
John Michael Hayes
He wrote four Hitchcock films in the 1950s, including To Catch a Thief and The Trouble with Harry.
The credited composer wrote only the piano tune and the titles; the rest of the film uses music that drifts across the courtyard.
Q 14Where does Hitchcock make his cameo in Rear Window?
Winding a clock in the songwriter's apartment
It comes during one of the songwriter's parties, visible across the courtyard.
Q 15What sound wakes Jeff on the night the crime supposedly happens?
A scream and breaking glass
He then watches Thorwald make repeated late-night trips out with his sample case.
Q 16What does Jeff see Thorwald cleaning the morning after his wife disappears?
A knife and a handsaw
Movers then haul away a large trunk, and Jeff reaches for the binoculars.
Q 17Whose death in the courtyard finally convinces Jeff that his theory is right?
A little dog
Thorwald had chased the animal away from digging in his flowerbed the day before, and is the only neighbor who does not react to the owner's cries.
Q 18How does Lisa signal to Jeff that she has found evidence in Thorwald's apartment?
She points to a wedding ring on her finger
Thorwald follows her gaze across the courtyard and realizes he is being watched.
Q 19How does Jeff defend himself when Thorwald finally comes to his darkened apartment?
By firing camera flash bulbs in his eyes
Thorwald still manages to push him out of the window, and Jeff ends the film with both legs in casts.
Q 20According to Thorwald's confession, where did he dump his wife's remains?
The East River
He had also moved a hat box containing her head after the dog started digging it up.
Q 24Which studio originally released Rear Window?
Paramount Pictures
Under his deal, the rights reverted to Hitchcock after eight years, and he kept the film out of circulation for almost two decades.
Q 25Where on the Paramount lot was the film's entire courtyard set built?
Sound stage 18
The set ran from the basement storeroom to the lighting grid and was the largest of its kind at the studio.
Q 26How many interchangeable lighting arrangements did the set have to mimic different times of day?
Four
Morning, afternoon, evening and night; a massive drainage system was also built for the rain sequence.
Q 27How long did set designers Hal Pereira and Joseph MacMillan Johnson spend building the courtyard set?
Six weeks
Set decorators later confirmed it was the largest indoor set Paramount had built.
Q 28How many takes did the famous uninterrupted 90-second opening shot require?
Ten
It took half a day of filming and introduces Jeff, his cast, his broken camera and the whole neighborhood without a word.
Q 29Which crooner's voice is heard singing 'To See You Is to Love You' across the courtyard?
Bing Crosby
Nat King Cole's 'Mona Lisa' and Dean Martin's 'That's Amore' also drift in, mostly borrowed from Paramount's music publisher.
Q 30Which composer is credited with the score, though he only wrote the titles and the songwriter's tune?
Franz Waxman
It was his last score for Hitchcock, who preferred music that came from within the story.