"Rebecca" (1940) - Director Alfred Hitchcock's First American Film, Academy Award Winner for Best Picture - Produced by David O. Selznick, and Starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine

[DIShGo]

"Rebecca," Alfred Hitchcock's first American project, is a Gothic tale filled with suspense. There is fine acting, beautiful cinematography and more twists and turns than your favorite roller-coaster.

I wanted to see this film because I have watched a number of movies lately starring Joan Fontaine, and this is considered by many to be her finest work. "Rebecca" is the only Alfred Hitchcock-directed film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It is based on the 1938 novel of the same name written by Daphne du Maurier.

Filmed in black-and-white, "Rebecca" has a darkly brooding, mysterious feel to it. Fontaine is perfect as the naively sweet second Mrs. De Winter, living in the shadow of her predecessor, Rebecca. Fontaine and Laurence Olivier have wonderful chemistry in this film. All of the actors are top-notch, but Dame Judith Anderson is simply unforgettable in her role as the demented housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.

"Rebecca" is a sweeping, captivating picture that every lover of classic films should see. 

[DonRocks]

44 minutes ago, DIShGo said:

"Rebecca," Alfred Hitchcock's first American project, is a Gothic tale filled with suspense. There is fine acting, beautiful cinematography and more twists and turns than your favorite roller-coaster.

I wanted to see this film because I have watched a number of movies lately starring Joan Fontaine, and this is considered by many to be her finest work. "Rebecca" is the only Alfred Hitchcock-directed film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It is based on the 1938 novel of the same name written by Daphne du Maurier.

Filmed in black-and-white, "Rebecca" has a darkly brooding, mysterious feel to it. Fontaine is perfect as the naively sweet second Mrs. De Winter, living in the shadow of her predecessor, Rebecca. Fontaine and Laurence Olivier have wonderful chemistry in this film. All of the actors are top-notch, but Dame Judith Anderson is simply unforgettable in her role as the demented housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.

"Rebecca" is a sweeping, captivating picture that every lover of classic films should see. 

*** SPOILER ALERT *** (Don't read this unless you've seen the film.)

"Rebecca" is one of the best movies I've ever seen. My only quibble is that there is *such* a disproportionate amount of action in the final sequences that it feels very out-of-balance - I understand it's Alfred Hitchcock and everything, but the ending comes at the viewer so fast-and-furious that it's almost overwhelming in relation to the rest of the film.

There are so many taboo-nuances in this film that must remain unspoken (I mean, not here, but in 1940) - there is a clear lesbian overtone between Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers (whom Rebecca calls "Danny"), not to mention creepy clothing fetishes that touch on BDSM - the question is: Who is the dominant, and who is the submissive, and at what point? And I'm not imagining this - Hitchcock wasn't exactly the purest of men, and he had plenty of his own kinks - I read about these unspoken little perversions after the fact, and when I did, they became so obvious that they had to be true.

When Mrs. Danvers tries to get the second Mrs. De Winter (who, as DIShGo pointed out to me, is never even mentioned by first name!) to commit suicide, it is pure evil in action - "demented" is about the single-best word that someone could use to describe her. It's pretty amazing that she didn't win the Best Supporting Actress award for 1940, losing to Jane Darwell in "The Grapes of Wrath."

Could this be the one Hitchcock character "sicker" than Anthony Perkins? She's certainly more evil, as Perkins simply could not help himself.

If I had to choose my Favorite Three Hitchcock films that I've seen so far, they'd most likely be "Rebecca," "Vertigo," and "Psycho." It seems there's a recent backlash against "Psycho," but I have absolutely no idea why - it's one of the greatest movies ever made.

[DIShGo]

I agree that the movie starts out slowly and then moves at a breakneck speed toward the end. I picked up a lesbian vibe from Mrs. Danvers, particularly when she showed the second Mrs. De Winter the sheerness of Rebecca's lingerie. 

[DIShGo]

I recently re-watched this film, and shortly after, "Suspicion." The former held up much better for a second viewing than the latter. I loved "Rebecca" the second time around, but Suspicion seemed dull, and the contrived ending annoyed me. 

I had no idea Mrs. Danvers was the inspiration for Cloris Leachman's character in "Young Frankenstein." Having recently watched the 1931 version of "Frankenstein," and then "Rebecca," it was great fun viewing this 1974 comedy again, which I hadn't seen since I was still in elementary school.

[DonRocks]

On 7/31/2020 at 3:51 PM, DIShGo said:

I recently re-watched this film, and shortly after, "Suspicion." The former held up much better for a second viewing than the latter. I loved "Rebecca" the second time around, but Suspicion seemed dull, and the contrived ending annoyed me. 

I had no idea Mrs. Danvers was the inspiration for Cloris Leachman's character in "Young Frankenstein." Having recently watched the 1931 version of "Frankenstein," and then "Rebecca," it was great fun viewing this 1974 comedy again, which I hadn't seen since I was still in elementary school.

"Rebecca" (1940) is vastly superior to "Suspicion" (1941), and is on a par with "Gaslight" (1944). All three films deal with a Damsel in Doubt (Joan Fontaine in both Hitchcock films, Ingrid Bergman in "Gaslight"), and really make a nice trio to power-watch - I would encourage people to watch "Suspicion" first to "get it out of the way."

Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) plays T'Lar in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984). Really.