There are a number of Hitch's tells in this short clip, from the fixation on the blonde, the juxtaposition of the man with the cigar puffing away in front of the "Smoking Prohibited" sign, to the use of the camera and lighting to direct the viewer's focus. But the formative idea shown here is the idea of voyeurism-who's being watched and who's doing the watching. The chorus line performs and expects to be watched by the audience in the scene, but we also get significant time as ourselves watching from the wings. That view opens up a sense of vulnerability because the dancers are oblivious to our presence.
In addition, the watcher who succeeds in meeting his fixation suddenly becomes incompetent-he sweats and he throws out a terrible line. He was much more comfortable and powerful as a spectator than as a participant. This could be the seed of the theme of the everyday man thrown into circumstances for which he is dreadfully unprepared, as in The Man Who Knew Too Much or North By Northwest.
The idea of the watcher and the watched of course shows up as a major theme in Rear Window, but also consider young Norman Bates peering through the peephole much as our tuxedoed gentleman peers through his binocular.
Hitch's art background serves him well-he needs no dialogue to support the imagery in telling the story, nor do we have any difficulty in determining where in the frame to devote our attention.
