Rebecca (1940)

• Review: **** (out of ****)
• Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce, Reginald Denny, C. Aubrey Smith, Gladys Cooper, Florence Bates
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Screenplay: Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison (Novel: by Daphne Du Maurier)
• Length: 130 min.
• MPAA Rating: Approved (Certificate #5969)

The celebrated novel by Daphne Du Maurier is brought vividlyto the screen by suspense director Alfred Hitchcock. Rebecca tells the story of a widower looking to forget the death ofhis wife.

Laurence Olivier stars as ‘Maxim’ de Winter, a aristocrat onholiday in Monte Carlo trying to understand where his life is going a yearafter his late wife Rebecca was washed ashore after a boating accident. There,he meets the snobbish socialite Edythe Van Hopper (Florence Bates) who istraveling with her hired companion played by Joan Fontaine. After she misleadsMrs. Van Hopper into believing she’s taking tennis lessons, she soon becomesthe Second Mrs. de Winter.

Fontaine’s character, always in the shadow of Rebecca, isnever given a first name. This one symbolic gesture typifies the atmosphericand moody film. While the servants seem content on recognizing the second Mrs.de Winter as mistress of the house, Rebecca’s personal maid Mrs. Danvers(Judith Anderson) goes to great lengths to make her feel unwelcome and hopes tosabotage Maxim’s relationship believing the master needs only remember Rebecca.

Everything in the house that belonged to Rebecca ismonogrammed ‘R’. The items are a persistent subtle reminder to the new Mrs. deWinter that she can never replace her predecessor.

Hitchcock had never worked in America prior to the filming of Rebecca. It’s amazing that despite beingnamed Best Picture of 1940, Hitchcock never won an Academy Award. After sixnominations, he was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg award by the Academybut never received the ever-elusive Oscar.

Rebecca encapsulates Hitchcock’s ability to set a tone for his pictures. As the filmopens, a narrator sets the scene while the camera creates the environment. Thecamera follows the overgrown road leading up to the burnt husk of Mandalay. Left neglectedfor reasons to be revealed later in the film, we are immediately aware thatwe’re in for an unusual and suspenseful picture.

Olivier isn’t at top form here but his torment is evidentand it is clear that we are meant to both admire and despise this man.Fontaine, who received her first Academy Award nomination for this film,displays a wide range of talent here. At first timid, Fontaine helps Mrs. deWinter grow into a strong, yet distrustful woman. Though Ingrid Bergman wouldperfect the paranoid wife in Gaslight,Fontaine does a great job of conveying the complex series of emotions hercharacter must go through.

The film would not be what it is, though, without thepowerful performance of Anderson.Mrs. Danvers is a classic villain. Her character is creepy yet worldly. Sheknows what she wants and knows how to get it. Anderson keeps Mrs. Danvers dark and ominousyet when in private, we see the ache she feels over the loss of a woman sheloved more than her own life.

Rebecca is a blendof psychological torment and gripping mystery. Hitchcock never abandons theaudience and keeps the film’s pace tight and controlled. There’s a reason hewas called the Master of Suspense and Rebecca was a brilliant first American entry into the illustrious career of one of filmhistory’s most impressive filmmakers.

-Wesley Lovell (October 17, 2006)