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"The Woman in the Window" : What to Watch Before You Read
“It isn’t really paranoia if it’s really happening…”
I’m going to let you in on a little tip. There’s a book coming out in January 2018 that everyone will be talking about. It’s called The Woman in the Window, by A.J. Finn. It will be the next big “It” book. Think Gone Girl, or The Girl on the Train. Those were “It” books; ones that publishers all fought over in heated auctions; ones with movie buzz before the books even came out. Books that everyone seemed to be talking about. Books with lots of holds. Books that everyone was reading.
I won’t go into specific plot details, so no spoiler alert is necessary. I’ll only note the obvious comparison to thrillers like Rear Window. This book is Hitchcockian. It does not shy away from these kind of comparisons, as the main character’s own movie viewing activities throughout the book provide a comprehensive must-see viewing list of classic films and noir-ish thrillers. And what better way to prepare for the release of an “It” book than to immerse yourself in the materials referenced in the book?
Text from the book is occasionally included below for context. A number of books and authors are referenced throughout the book -- Jude the Obscure, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Tennyson, Shakespeare, She's Come Undone ("Come undone. She’s come undone. That was a book, I believe. I never read it.") -- but the list below contains only the films.
Without further ado, below are all the films referenced in A.J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window. Start watching them now. You have a few months to prepare before the paranoia sets in.
Page 4:
Page 16:
Page 17:
Airplane! “Bulbs need changing? It’s dark in here.” I like it dim,” I say. Like my men, I want to add. Is that the joke from Airplane!?"
Page 22:
Page 26:
Les Diaboliques “A rat-bastard husband, his “little ruin” of a wife, a mistress, a murder, a vanished corpse. Can you beat a vanished corpse?”
Page 30:
"Graham Greene series @ Angelika this w/e?"
Page 34:
“As a teenager I preferred the company of Gene Tierney and Jimmy Stewart to that of my classmates.”
Page 35:
"The Thin Man franchise ranked from best (the original) to worst (Song of the Thin Man)."
“Top movies from the bumper crop of 1944. Joseph Cotten’s finest moments.”
"Best Hitchcock films not made by Hitchcock:"
Sudden Fear “starring Joan Crawford’s eyebrows”
"...movies that postdate Hitch:"
"Popular film misquotes."
"...the first Holmes film of the talkie era..."
Page 44:
"...Criterion, Kino, Universal's Hitchcock boxed set, assorted film noir collections..."
Star Wars “I’m only human."
Page 46:
Page 50:
Page 55:
Page 86:
Page 89:
Page 97:
Page 102:
Page 117:
Page 131:
Page 144:
Page 145:
Page 194:
Page 238:
Page 251:
“I feel as though I’m at a movie and the film is over and the lights are up and everyone’s filed out of the theater and I’m still sitting there, trying to work out what happened.”
He snickers.
"What? What's funny?"
“It’s just that it’s very you to liken this to a movie.”
Page 290:
Signs “middling film, splendid Bernard Herrmann-esque score…”
Page 321:
Gaslight “If I dream things when I’m awake, I’m going out of my mind.”
Page 332:
Page 345:
Foreign Correspondent “- the windmill scene, at least.”
Page 348:
Page 350:
Page 356:
Page 359:
Page 375:
Page 376:
Page 380:
Page 398:
Page 403:
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Comments
Woman in the window books list
Submitted by Ann (not verified) on May 2, 2018 - 9:04am
Thanks...
Submitted by Billy Parrott on May 18, 2018 - 9:40am
Thank you for doing this for
Submitted by Ali (not verified) on May 17, 2018 - 11:46am
You're welcome
Submitted by Billy Parrott on May 18, 2018 - 9:41am
Thank you for compiling this list!
Submitted by Shawn Purcell (not verified) on August 27, 2018 - 9:20pm
Many thanks and...
Submitted by Billy Parrott on August 28, 2018 - 10:39am
Thank you so much for doing
Submitted by Trudy Evans (not verified) on October 23, 2018 - 9:40pm
Thanks so much for compiling
Submitted by Guest (not verified) on February 4, 2019 - 3:09am
Two more
Submitted by Naomi JOHNSON (not verified) on March 12, 2019 - 10:58pm