Rebecca (1940)

When a naive young woman marries a rich widower and settles in his gigantic mansion, she finds the memory of the first wife maintaining a grip on her husband and the servants.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Daphne Du Maurier (celebrated novel), Robert E. Sherwood (screen play),

Stars:

Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders

Top 250 #124 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Laurence Olivier	...	'Maxim' de Winter
Joan Fontaine	...	Mrs. de Winter
George Sanders	...	Jack Favell
Judith Anderson	...	Mrs. Danvers
Nigel Bruce	...	Major Giles Lacy
Reginald Denny	...	Frank Crawley
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Colonel Julyan
Gladys Cooper	...	Beatrice Lacy
Florence Bates	...	Mrs. Van Hopper
Melville Cooper	...	Coroner
Leo G. Carroll	...	Dr. Baker
Leonard Carey	...	Ben
Lumsden Hare	...	Tabbs
Edward Fielding	...	Frith
Philip Winter	...	Robert

Storyline

A shy ladies' companion, staying in Monte Carlo with her stuffy employer, meets the wealthy Maxim de Winter. She and Max fall in love, marry and return to Manderley, his large country estate in Cornwall. Max is still troubled by the death of his first wife, Rebecca, in a boating accident the year before. The second Mrs. de Winter clashes with the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, and discovers that Rebecca still has a strange hold on everyone at Manderley.

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Plot Keywords:

housekeeper | love | death | widower | cornwall | 

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Taglines:

The shadow of a remembered woman came between their lips... but these two had the courage to hope... and to live their love!

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

12 April 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rebeca

Filming Locations:

Big Sur, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,288,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Selznick International Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mrs. Danvers is hardly ever seen walking; she seems to glide. Alfred Hitchcock wanted her to be seen solely from Joan Fontaine's character's anxious point of view, and this effect tied in with her fear about Mrs. Danvers appearing anytime unexpectedly.

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Goofs

During the dining scene after the second Mrs. de Winter knocks over the vase, the neckline of her blouse goes from untidy to perfectly neat between shots.

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Quotes

Policeman: Is this your car, sir ?
Jack Favell: Yes.
Policeman: Will you be going soon ? This isn't a parking place, you know.
Jack Favell: Oh, isn't it ? People are entitled... to leave their cars outside if they want to. It's a pity some of you fellows haven't anything better to do!

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Crazy Credits

The original 1940 credits read "Selznick International presents its picturization of Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca'". The credits on the re-issue version read "The Selznick Studio presents its production of Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca'".

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Connections

Referenced in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Love's Old Sweet Song (Just a Song at Twilight)"
(1884) (uncredited)
Music by J.L. Molloy
Hummed by Joan Fontaine

User Reviews

Joan Fontaine is so beautiful

I spent the majority of this film thinking about how lucky M. Olivier really was. To be able to wrap his arms around Joan Fontaine and kiss her. Oh my. She's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen (almost, but not quite as beautiful as Veronica Lake). She's also absolutely perfect in the role of the second Mrs. DeWinter, taking a character that could have become a cloying bore in less capable hands and transforming her into a sympathetic and interesting figure.

The movie, on the whole, is similarly amazing, capturing the spirit and the tone of those great Gothic romances. Watching Rebecca, I was reminded (pleasantly) of Wuthering Heights; I do not mean to suggest that in some way this film re-tells the tale of Cathy and Heathcliff, but rather that Rebecca has the feel of Bronte's novel (I am most certainly not talking about the William Wyler adaptation a few years before the release of Rebecca. That's a terrible film that somehow manages to mis-interpret the novel).

I must assume that the guiding hand of Hitchcock played no small role in recreating the feel of a Gothic romance. There are very few that would be able to take a love story, infuse it with such gloom, with such a sense of foreboding, and still manage to create something that ends happily without it feeling like a cop-out. I'd also like to draw everyone's attention to the incredibly moving section of the film that occurs between the arrival of the second Mrs. DeWinter at Mandalay and the masqued ball. The emotional strain on the Joan Fontaine character is so palpable, so absolutely taxing, that it actually pains me to watch. I hurt along with her. Few other movies affect me so emotionally

• one of them is Vertigo.

All in all, this is a fantastic piece of film-making from Hollywood's golden age. Laurence Olivier is in top-form, as he plays the quiet, sad Maxim and George Sanders is positively hateful.

10/10 - a visceral masterpiece