Rebecca - Criterion Collection | Judith Anderson, Florence Bates

Rebecca - Criterion Collection | Judith Anderson, Florence Bates | Rebecca

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Rebecca - Criterio...

	Rebecca - Criterion Collection Judith Anderson, Florence Bates Criterion, 2001 average customer review:based on 153 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

"Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again." Rebecca?s haunting opening line conjures the entirety of Hitchcock?s romantic, suspenseful, elegant film. A young woman (Joan Fontaine) believes her every dream has come true when her whirlwind romance with the dashing Maxim de Winter (Sir Laurence Olivier) culminates in marriage. But she soon realizes that Rebecca, the dead first Mrs. De Winter, haunts both the temperamental, brooding Maxim and the de Winter mansion, Manderley. In order for Maxim and the new Mrs. De Winter to have a future, Rebecca?s spell must be broken and the mystery of her violent death unraveled. The first collaboration between producer David O. Selznick and Hitchcock, Rebecca was adapted from Daphne du Maurier?s popular novel and won the 1940 Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Cinematography (Black and White).

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"I am Mrs. de Winter now. . ."

If you haven't read Daphne du Maurier's classic novel, the basis for this gorgeous adaptation by Hitchcock and David O. Selznick, you should - even if you've seen the movie twenty times, du Maurier's Gothic tale will offer up additional riches, not the least of them a more leisurely approach to the delicious revelations about the marriage of Maxim and Rebecca de Winter.

That said, the film has two advantages over the book: one, if you wish it, is more speed in arriving at those shocking revelations, and the second is the far more obvious lesbian overtones of Mrs. Danvers' adoration of her former mistress. You might miss it in the book; you can't miss it in the film, where it nearly jumps off the screen as Mrs. Danvers tenderly strokes the dead Rebecca's convent-embroidered undies under the horrified eyes of the second Mrs. de Winter. That the ghastly Mrs. Danvers represents yet another demonization of homosexuals from a less evolved era is unarguable (and interesting, given du Maurier's own history in this arena, and her affair with actress Gertrude Lawrence), but the film, nevertheless, is memorable.

Laurence Olivier is Maxim de Winter, prowling the Riviera as he tries to recover from the loss of his charismatic young wife, Rebecca, drowned in a tragic boating accident. We never see so much as a portrait or photograph of Rebecca - we see her solely through the eyes of others and know only that she was compelling, beautiful, accomplished, and well-born: the perfect chatelaine for Maxim's beloved estate, Manderley.

While (presumably) grieving for his loss, Maxim meets the fey and insecure young paid companion (Joan Fontaine) of Edyth Van Hopper (Florence Bates), a nasty society matron with a tongue like horseradish. We never learn the young companion's name (she's an orphan, naturally) any more than we ever see what Rebecca really looked like. The two females here representing the Worst and the Best of Woman have one thing in common: their identities are irrelevant except in relationship to Maxim - one lacks a face and the other a name.

Maxim begins to squire the guileless young girl around. In the manner of Gothic heroes everywhere, Maxim, although handsome and eminently "eligible", is sarcastic, withdrawn, moody - rude in the peculiar way only the rich feel they are entitled to be - and not particularly pleasant company. And, in the manner of Gothic heroines everywhere, the soon-to-be Second Mrs. de Winter finds these qualities irresistible. Olivier, unbelievably handsome in 1940 and a past master at dark and moody, is all one could wish as the petulant (ooops, did I say that?!) Maxim, and a perfect foil for the fair, nail-biting, self-doubting (but very pretty, although we are not supposed to notice) Fontaine.

Just as the young girl believes she is about to leave Monte Carlo with her waspish employer, never to see Maxim again, Maxim proposes. She cannot quite believe it when he growls, "I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool!" (If it were anyone but the divine young Olivier, this reviewer would say that any woman accepting a proposal made in such terms deserves everything she gets.) The ecstatic girl hands in her notice to the vicious Mrs. Van Hopper (to our collective applause), but not before Mrs. VH manages to convey to our heroine how poorly she compares to the exquisite First Mrs. De Winter, how out of her depth she is, and how Maxim can't possibly really love her, but is only amusing himself to take his mind off Rebecca.

So Maxim brings his already anxious new bride home to Manderley, where she is overwhelmed with feelings of miserable inadequacy, never having run a Stately Home. She seems to fall over her feet and do everything wrong, and she is terrified of the servants. Maxim, of coures, gives his inexperienced wife no help at all and is impatient with her difficulties. The new bride's problems mount as she encounters the not too subtle hostility of the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Andersen), who is more a part of Maxim's life and of Manderley than the new bride feels she can ever hope to be, and who adored the ground the dead Rebecca walked on. And, as she meets Maxim's friends, and hears them speak in hushed but oddly oblique terms of Rebecca, the Second Mrs. de Winter becomes yet more demoralized.

Suffice it to say that except for now being rich, it really appears as though our heroine has exchanged one miserable situation for another. Mrs. Danvers does everything she can to undermine the Second Mrs. de Winter's confidence, and eventually pulls off a stunning coup that appears to complete her rout and guarantee her flight from Manderley and Maxim, via a leap from a second story window. Throughout, the viewer is maddened with a desire to reach through the screen, slap the Second Mrs. de Winter sideways, and scream at her to grow a pair and tell Mrs. Danvers to stick it.

But before Mrs. Danvers can savor her triumph over the hated usurper of her beloved mistress's place, the wrecked boat in which Rebecca drowned, which was never recovered, is found, and inside it is Rebecca's body - despite the fact that a body identified by Maxim as that of Rebecca is buried in the family plot. And, with the boat and the body comes the discovery that the boat was not wrecked, but deliberately scuttled, raising the possibility that Rebecca either committed suicide or - was murdered. But why and by whom?

The scene in the boathouse, where Maxim finally tells the Second Mrs. de Winter the truth about the First Mrs. de Winter, and his fevered loathing for his callous (and apparently sociopathic), adulterous first wife, is a classic of the genre ("It's Rebecca's body down there!"). Olivier's skills are masterfully displayed in this long scene. The Second Mrs. de Winter, who earlier was nearly suicidal with despair, is elated - the suspicion that her husband may have murdered his first wife means nothing to her: all that is important to her is the knowledge that Maxim hated Rebecca's guts, and, therefore, his feeling for HER must be the Real Thing - she isn't just a pale Also Ran.

The Second Mrs. de Winter grows up before our very eyes. She returns to the Big House with her husband more fully his wife than she has ever been, to Mrs. Danvers' shock. The next day, as they go over the menu together, the Second Mrs. de Winter crosses out a cold lunch and substitutes a hot one. To Mrs. Danvers's acidic, "The first Mrs. de Winter always had a cold lunch on Sunday," the triumphant Fontaine answers, to our delighted cheers, "I am Mrs. de Winter now.".

As the tale unfolds of the evil Rebecca's perfidy toward Maxim, his friends, and everyone else with whom she came in contact, and Maxim confronts the specter of being tried for Rebecca's murder, the film moves toward its famous conclusion.

The elegant cinematography is by George Barnes (who won an Oscar for it), the art direction by Lyle Wheeler, and the performances are, across the board, perfect. Olivier's Maxim dominates, but the rest hold their own. Fontaine, in her first starring role, later related that the rest of the cast, all seasoned pros, were rather condescending to the newcomer - until they saw the rushes. One could certainly quarrel with how Mrs. Danvers is written, but not with Judith Anderson's delivery, reeking of that most dangerous blend, subservience and malevolence. George Sanders is Rebecca's sleazy cousin, Jack, apart from Mrs. Danvers the closest person to Rebecca, who thinks he knows what really happened and tries to blackmail Maxim with it. Leo G. Carroll appears as the stolid doctor who provides the last twisty piece of evidence that fills in the puzzle of Rebecca's life and death.

"Rebecca" beat out "The Grapes of Wrath" for the 1940 Best Picture Oscar. One could argue that the greater social relevance of John Ford's titanic classic makes it the more meritorious film, but it's a pointless "apples and oranges" argument. Just about everyone connected with "Rebecca" was nominated for an Oscar, from Olivier to Franz Waxman for the brooding score (among Waxman's many fine film scores are those for Fred Zinneman's "The Nun's Story", Wyler's "Sunset Boulevard", and Hitchcock's "Rear Window").

After 70 years, "Rebecca" remains as satisfying as ever - because, no matter how much else marches forward, the elements of a good Gothic suspense story never change. "Rebecca" fulfills them all.

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Rebecca

I read the book long before I saw the movie, and now both are my favorites. So well written and characters perfectly matched and performed in movie. Wonderful mystery that keeps you wondering until it ends and you wish it didn't.

Rebecca, Still Haunts me today!!! Great movie.

My grandmother raised me for 11 years which is probably why I have an appreciation for the old black & whites, the musicals, and the quietly incredible.

I remember the very first time I watched Rebecca. I was only 10. I will be 60 this year and it still haunts me. This story could be told today, 2008, or tomorrow, 2020. We are no different and we will still be the same.

Hitchcock wrote the great story, but Joan Fontaine WAS the movie, the mystery, the thrill, the romance, a real woman. The simple black & white allows you to sink deep into the plot without distraction, deeper, deeper into the mystery that is Rebecca! Enjoy!!

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Rebecca - Better choices.

This DVD leaves a lot to be desired. First, there's the dreadful artwork. Second, the Korean packaging is poorly done. Third, the picture quality is not very good and has a few stops and starts which are distracting. My old VHS version shows better. If you simply must have "Rebecca" and can't find anything better, by all means, go for it. It's still one of the all time great movies! Even this version can't undo that.

One of Hitchcock's finest!

Rebecca is one of Hitchcock's most brilliant masterpieces and won the Academy Award for 1940's Best Picture. I think that this movie, especially, showcases Hitchcock's talent for directing. This movie doesn't have as much action as, lets say, "North By Northwest", but the plot is very twisted and exciting! Just when you start to think you know what is going to happen the story totally turns around. I will have you glued to the screen till the last second.
Joan Fontaine was an incredible choice for the leading lady and received a Best Actress Oscar for her stunning performance. She plays a shy, timid companion to a very wealthy lady. While visiting Monte Carlo with her employer, she meets the handsome widow Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier), and during the coarse of her stay the two fall in love and get married. Upon the couples arival at the de Winter Estate, she is greeted coldly by the housekeepers, and feels they are comparing her to Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who died in a boating accident the year prior. But the mysterious head-housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, has an intense dislike for her and a strange devotion to Rebecca.

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