Rear Window

A FI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring celebrates the 50th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window with a weeklong engagement beginning with two showings today (6:40 p.m. and 9:10 p.m.). It's more than one of Hitchcock's greatest comedies of terrors. Set in a Greenwich Village apartment and its adjoining courtyards, this urban variation on the backyard-murder story is a once-over-lightly satire of the quality of modern life and a once-over-thoroughly exploration of the allure of voyeurism.

Police in Baltimore County are seeking one person in a string of residential burglaries. The Sun's Steve Kilar writes about the case in today's editions . Here is a complete list of the crime, all in or around White Marsh over the past several days: •    On March 25, between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., an unknown suspect pried open a window of a home in the 9200 block of Ramblebrook Road, 21236, and took clothing and purses containing medication....

The older a man gets, the faster he could run as a boy. -- Walter "Red" Smith THIS WHIMSICAL observation by the finest sportswriter who ever tapped a keyboard comes to mind at this time of year. Each autumn, for more than 25 years, those of us lucky enough to have grown up near Easterwood Park in northwest Baltimore have come together in pleasant reunion to share gentle exaggerations. Red was right, as usual: As life's road shortens, the view through the rear window becomes more rosy.

So maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe it was just a fluke. A few short days after my last column went to press, where I discussed chasing kids who beat on the windows of businesses, I walked out to my car after work and discovered an unfortunate new expense - the rear window of my car had been smashed out. This wasn't a theft. Nothing was stolen. It was nothing like that. It was either just a random act of a window giving way, or someone committed vehicular vandalism.

I don't remember when I first saw "Rear Window." But clearly I was at a formative age. To this day, Alfred Hitchcock's film, which was released in 1954, remains for me an indelible, transfixing, endlessly fascinating exercise in the power of the cinema to seduce, coerce and just plain entertain. I can't tell you how many times I've seen "Rear Window," either. A dozen? Two dozen? It doesn't matter, because each time I see it, it's for the first time. Hitchcock packed so much expression and information into every single shot of the movie that it provides endlessly rewarding reading.

When Alfred Hitchcock's most famous thrillers were originally released in the 1950s and 1960s, an audience would have watched the suspense unfold at the Carroll Theatre on Main Street in Westminster. This month, classic Hitchcock films will again be shown at the theater, now the renovated Carroll Arts Center, as part of an Alfred Hitchcock Film Festival. "The series brings back an era of when this theater was hoppin'," said Sandy Oxx, executive director of the Carroll County Arts Council.

POLICE LOG* Lisbon: 800 block of Beetz Road: Someone removed the rear window and door screens of a home Friday. Nothing was taken, police said.

POLICE LOG* Ellicott City: 2800 block of Greenway Drive: The rear window of a Plymouth Voyager was broken Sunday or Monday.

POLICE LOG* Harper's Choice: 10900 block of Rock Coast Road: Someone pried open a rear window and ransacked a home on Wednesday.

POLICE LOG* Owen Brown: 6600 block of Dobbin Road: The rear window of a blue Oldsmobile Cutlass was shattered Wednesday, but police said nothing was taken.

Bradhurst Road 800 block, between 9 p.m. Feb. 5 and 6 a.m. Feb. 6. Black tote bag containing papers stolen from vehicle. Broxton Road 300 block, between 5 p.m. Feb. 8 and 2 p.m. Feb. 9. Attempted garage break-in. Side door damaged. North Calvert Street 2900 block, between 5:30 and 10 p.m. Feb. 5. 32-inch Phillips LCD TV, cash stolen from residence. Entry gained by forcing open rear window. North Charles Street 2500 block at 8 a.m. Feb. 7. Pocketbook, laptop, Rolex watch, necklace, Social Security card, passport, cash stolen from residence.

Taken from the pages of The Aegis dated Thursday, Oct. 26, 1961: The life of a local farmer was saved this week 50 years ago by two young boys. The boys, Burton Brock, 15, and Kenneth Daughton, 14, both of Phillips Mill Road in Forest Hill, used techniques they had learned in the Boy Scouts to free a man whose hands were both caught in a corn picking machine. The boys heard the screams of Frederick Keyes and ran a half a mile to reach him. When they arrived they immediately shut off the machine, used their belts as tourniquets and summoned for help.

The following is compiled from local police reports. Our policy is to include descriptions when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have information about these crimes, call the Wilkens Precinct at 410-887-0872. Martin Court, 1200 block, 1-1:28 p.m. June 6. Man seen in apartment building's stairway with mountain bike later seen entering apartment through window. Man fled on bike on Forest Park Avenue. Rear window broken.

The following is compiled from local police reports. Our policy is to include descriptions when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have information about these crimes, call the Wilkens Precinct at 410-887-0872. Michigan Avenue, 2800 block, 1:08 p.m. June 5. Video surveillance shows woman entering fenced-in yard at residence, then stealing a blower and an extension cord. Man joined her in front of residence and they walked towards Brian Street.

Police reports in Baltimore city and county: Northwestern Baltimore Homicide: Police continue to seek the person or persons who fatally shot a man in an alley in the 2300 block of Ocala Ave. near Druid Hill Park about 3 p.m. Sunday. Police said the victim, whose name has not been confirmed, was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene by city Fire Department medics. Two men observed by bystanders fleeing the scene were being sought. Metro Crime Stoppers at 410-276-8888 is offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest and an indictment in the city's first homicide this year.

I never put bumper stickers on my car. Except when I do. Then I tape them to the rear window, usually the lower left side, where drivers behind me can read them, but I cannot. I have commitment issues. Just ask John Kerry, who occupied that temporary throne four years ago only to be peeled off soon after Depressing Presidential Election Part Deux. Actually, I've never wanted to be one of those people who plaster their cars with stickers, especially out-of-date political endorsements that indicate your age bracket and (often loser)

POLICE LOG* Elkridge: 7800 block of Washington Blvd.: Someone broke the rear window of a business and took cigarettes Friday night, police said.

POLICE LOG* North Laurel: 9000 block of Canterbury Riding: Someone smashed a rear window to a 1988 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer onWednesday and attempted to steal stereo speakers.