Rebecca (film)
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| Rebecca | |
|---|---|
| Image:Rebecca 1940 film poster.jpg Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | David O. Selznick |
| Written by | Original novel: Daphne du Maurier Adaptation: Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan
|
| Narrated by | Joan Fontaine |
| Starring | Laurence Olivier Joan Fontaine Judith Anderson |
| Music by | Franz Waxman |
| Cinematography | George Barnes |
| Editing by | W. Donn Hayes |
| Distributed by | Selznick International Pictures United Artists |
| Release date(s) | April 12, 1940 (USA) |
| Running time | 130 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,288,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Rebecca is an Academy Award–winning 1940 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project. It is a screenplay by Joan Harrison and Robert E. Sherwood from Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan's adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel of the same name, and was produced by David O. Selznick.[1] It stars Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as his late wife's housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.
The film is a gothic tale about the lingering memory of the title character, which still affects Maxim, his new bride, and Mrs. Danvers long after her death.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The story begins with images of a ruined country manor, and a woman telling us that she can never return to Manderley. Joan Fontaine plays a young woman (who is never named) who works as a companion to the aristocratic Edythe Van Hopper (Florence Bates). In Monte Carlo, she meets the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) and they fall in love. Within weeks, they decide to get married.
Maxim takes his new bride to Manderley, his country house in Cornwall, England. However, the servants are reluctant to accept the new Mrs. de Winter as the new lady of the house. They are loyal to Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who died under mysterious circumstances.
Particularly unpleasant is the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson). She is still obsessed with Rebecca's beauty and virtues, and preserves her former bedroom as a shrine, even to the point of seeming to worship Rebecca's handmade underwear and expensive negligee. Rebecca's "cousin" Jack (George Sanders), (actually her lover,) who occasionally appears at the house when Maxim is away, seems to know Mrs. Danvers well, calling her by the name "Danny", which was Rebecca's pet name for her. This and more in the film strongly suggests a lesbian relationship or at least a sexual obsession on the part of Mrs. Danvers and her promiscuous former mistress, though social ethics at the time strictly forbade any such outright declaration in the narrative.
The new Mrs. de Winter is intimidated by Mrs. Danvers and by the responsibilities of being the new chatelaine of Manderley. As a result, she begins to doubt her relationship with her husband. The continuous presence of Rebecca in the house starts to haunt her.
To try to act more like the perfect wife, Mrs. de Winter suggests to Maxim that they host a costume party. Maxim regretably agrees. Mrs. de Winter excitdly plans her costume in secret, Mrs. Danvers suggests that she copy Caroline de Winter, whose painting hangs in the upstairs hallway. The night of the party, Mrs. de Winter reveals her costume to Maxim, who is both surpised and angry at her, shouting at her to change her costume. Mrs. de Winter rushes upstiars, sees Mrs. Danvers goes into Rebecca's room and follows her. There she confronts Mrs Danvers about knowing that Rebecca wore the same costume last year, Mrs Danver retaliates by saying that she will never takes Rebeccas place and almost convinces Mrs. de Winter to commit suicide. But Mrs. de Winter snaps out of her trance when a sudden commotion starts downstairs.
Mrs. de Winter(after changing her outfit) rushes downstairs to the front lawn, where she hears news that a sunken boat is found off the coast with Rebecca's body in it. She spots a distant glow from the cottage on the shore, she enters it to find Maxim. Maxim admits to his new wife that he misidentified another body as Rebecca's to prevent discovery of the truth. From almost the beginning of thier marriage, he and Rebecca hated each other. They agreed to "keep up appearances" for the sake of family honor. Rebecca began to get careless after a while, like disappearing for days on end and returning as if nothing was wrong. Maxim was also aware of Rebecca's ongoing affiar with Jack. One night, suspecting to find Rebecca and Jack together, Maxim came down to the cottage. Rebecca had been expecting Jack, but he had never come, she told Maxim that she was pregnant with Jack's child. During the argument, she fell, hit her head, and died. Maxim took the body out in a boat and scuttled it.
In the ensuing police investigation, officials question whether the damage to the boat indicated that Rebecca committed suicide. Jack quickly provides evidence that Rebecca was not suicidal(and even tried to blackmail Maxim with it) and Maxim comes under suspicion of murder. The second Mrs. de Winter must face the prospect of losing her husband. The investigation focuses on Rebecca's secret visits to a London doctor, visits that everyone assumes were due to her illicit pregnancy. However, an interview with the doctor reveals that Rebecca was, in fact, suffering from cancer, and would have died very shortly. She was not pregnant: she lied to Maxim, apparently trying to encourage him to kill her as a form of suicide.
As Maxim returns home to Manderley, he finds it on fire, set alight by the deranged Mrs. Danvers, who dies in the flames.
[edit] Adaptation
At Selznick's insistence, the film adapts the plot of du Maurier's novel Rebecca faithfully.[2] However, one plot detail was altered to comply with the Hollywood Production Code, which said that the murder of a spouse had to be punished.[2] In the novel, Maxim shoots Rebecca, while in the film, he only thinks of killing her after she taunts him, whereupon she suddenly falls back, hits her head on a piece of boat equipment, and dies from her head injuries, so that her death is an accident, not murder. According to the Book "Its only a Movie", David O. Selznick wanted the smoke from the burning Manderley to spell out a huge R. Alfred Hitchcock thought the touch lacked any subtlety. When Selznick was preoccupied by Gone With the Wind (1939), Hitchcock was able to replace the smoky R with the burning of a monogrammed lingerie case. Hitchcock also edited the picture in the camera, a method of filmmaking that didn't allow David O. Selznick to reedit the picture.
[edit] Cast
- Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter
- Joan Fontaine as The Second Mrs. de Winter
- George Sanders as Jack Favell
- Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers
- Nigel Bruce as Major Giles Lacy
- Reginald Denny as Frank Crawley
- C. Aubrey Smith as Colonel Julyan
- Gladys Cooper as Beatrice Lacy
- Florence Bates as Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper
- Melville Cooper as Coroner
- Leo G. Carroll as Dr. Baker
- Leonard Carey as Ben
- Lumsden Hare as Tabbs
- Edward Fielding as Frith
- Forrester Harvey as Chalcroft
- Mary Williams - The Head Maid
- Keira Tate - The Parlour Maid
- Rose Trace - The Parlour Maid
- Sandra Phillip - The Parlour Maid
- Kelly Sanderton - The Parlour Maid
- Herietta Bodvon - The Housemaid
Hitchcock's cameo appearance, a signature feature of his films, takes place near the end; he is seen outside a phone box when Jack is making a call.
[edit] Awards
Academy Awards wins (1941)
- Best Picture - Selznick International Pictures - David O. Selznick.
- Best Cinematography, Black and White - George Barnes.
Academy Award nominations (1941)
- Best Actor in a Leading Role - Laurence Olivier.
- Best Actress in a Leading Role - Joan Fontaine.
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Judith Anderson.
- Best Director - Alfred Hitchcock.
- Art Direction, Black and White - Lyle R. Wheeler.
- Special Effects - Jack Cosgrove, Arthur Johns.
- Best Film Editing - Hal C. Kern.
- Best Music, Original Score - Franz Waxman.
- Best Writing, Screenplay - Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Rebecca at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ a b Spoto, Donald (1999). The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. Da Capo, 213-214. ISBN 030680932X.
[edit] External links
- Rebecca at the TCM Movie Database.
- Criterion Collection essay by Robin Wood.
- Complete list of actors who were considered for roles
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gone with the Wind | Academy Award for Best Picture 1940 | Succeeded by How Green Was My Valley |
Academy Award for Best Picture: Winners (1927-1940)† |
|---|
1927–28: Wings, Sunrise · 1928–29: The Broadway Melody · 1929–30: All Quiet on the Western Front · 1930–31: Cimarron · 1931–32: Grand Hotel · 1932–33: Cavalcade · 1934: It Happened One Night · 1935: Mutiny on the Bounty · 1936: The Great Ziegfeld · 1937: The Life of Emile Zola · 1938: You Can't Take It with You · 1939: Gone with the Wind · 1940: Rebecca †From 1927 to 1933, the Academy Awards did not follow a calendar year. Complete List · Winners (1941–1960) · Winners (1961–1980) · Winners (1981–2000) · Winners (2001– ) |
es:Rebeca (película) fr:Rebecca (film, 1940) hr:Rebecca (1940) it:Rebecca, la prima moglie hu:A Manderley-ház asszonya nl:Rebecca (film) ja:レベッカ (映画) pt:Rebecca ru:Ребекка (фильм) sk:Mŕtva a živá fi:Rebekka (elokuva) sv:Rebecca (film) tr:Rebecca (film)
Categories: 1940 films | American films | Best Picture Academy Award winners | Black and white films | English-language films | Films based on fiction books | Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock | Mystery films | Romantic drama films | Films based on romance books | Selznick International films | Psychological thriller films | United Artists films
