Rebecca (1940)

Rebecca
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Robert E. Sherwood et al based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier
1940/USA
Selznick International Pictures
Repeat viewing; Netflix rental
#143 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 8.3/10; I say 9/10

[box] Jack Favell: I say, marriage with Max is not exactly a bed of roses, is it?[/box]

This, Hitchcock’s first American picture, was authored more by Selznick than the Master, but is nonetheless excellent.

An unnamed young paid companion (Joan Fontaine) finds wealthy widower Max De Winter (Laurence Olivier) apparently contemplating suicide on a rocky outcropping on the South of France.  He becomes interested in the awkward naive girl, marries her, and takes her home to Manderly, his palatial estate in England.  There, she finds she is unprepared for her social duties, her husband is moody and reserved, and the creepy housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Dame Judith Anderson) constantly compares her to the former Mrs. De Winter, glamorous Rebecca.  With George Sanders as Jack Favell, Rebecca’s “favorite cousin”, Reginald Denny as Max’s overseer and friend, Gladys Cooper as Max’s sister, and Nigel Bruce as her husband.

The standout of this atmospheric Hitchcock dramatic melodrama is not Hitchcock but Judith Anderson’s admirably restrained performance as the icy Mrs. Danvers.  Joan Fontaine is also pitch perfect as the cowering second Mrs. De Winter, perhaps egged on off-screen by Olivier’s animosity and Hitchcock’s exploitation of the situation.  This is also an ideal role to show off the cynical side of George Sanders, which, of course, he pulls off admirably.  There is remarkably little wit for a Hitchcock film and the melodrama is laid on a bit thick at the end but it remains a beautiful and entertaining movie.  The Franz Waxman score is wonderful.

Rebecca won the Academy Award as Best Picture of 1940 and for its black-and-white cinematography (George Barnes).  It was nominated in the categories of Best Director, Best Actor (Olivier), Best Actress (Fontaine), Best Supporting Actress (Anderson), Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Special Effects, and Best Original Score (Franz Waxman).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CANjLGLrdak

Re-release trailer