133. REBECCA (1940)

Running Time: 130 minutes
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Written By: Philip MacDonald, from novel by Daphne Du Maurier
Main Cast: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, George Sanders

"LAST NIGHT I DREAMT I WENT TO MANDERLEY AGAIN"

With a grand total of eighteen movies in the "1001" book, Hitchcock chimes in with his fourth, with his adaptation of the Daphne Du Maurier novel, "Rebecca" and also his first American film. Rebecca was also the always lauded director's first and only movie to win the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards. While it's certainly not my favorite Hitchcock flick, it's certainly a good one and one that really keeps you entertained right up to the end.

The beautiful Joan Fontaine plays a young woman (who is never named) who meets a wealthy, sophisticated man, Maxim de Winter, while vacationing with her employer in Monte Carlo. Through the weeks that they're in Monte Carlo, they meet up everyday, as the young woman tells her employer day after day that she's going out for a tennis lesson, only to go and continuously meet Mr. de Winter. It is quickly revealed that Mr. de Winter has recently lost his wife, Mrs. Rebecca de Winter, and the loss is painted thick on the face of Mr. de Winter, as it is obviously still something he thinks about often. It seems, however, that the young girl is keeping his mind off of his recent loss and when the young girl's employer decides to head to New York, Mr. de Winter makes a quick and hasty proposal to the young girl and asks for her hand in marriage. The young girl accepts and soon becomes the second Mrs. de Winter.

It isn't long before Maxim takes the young girl back to Manderley, his estate in England (think Tara in Gone with the Wind) and the young girl is quickly encapsulated by the grandeur of the estate, and all of the maids, servants and amenities that come along with it. The young girl, as shy as she is, seems to get along with everyone, that is, except for the head housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. It seems as though Mrs. Danvers was quite close with the late Mrs. de Winter and resents the fact that Mr. de Winter got remarried. While he is often away on business, the current Mrs. de Winter must learn to fend for herself against Mrs. Danvers and adjust alone to all of her new surroundings at the giant, palatial palace. It all leads up to several twists that are thrown into the plot, as only Alfred Hitchcock can deliver them.

While I did mention at the beginning that this wasn't my favorite Hitchcock film, it is a really good one and one that had been in desperate need of a rewatch from me. I hadn't seen it in sometime and had actually totally forgotten about everything past the first ninety minutes, so the surprises were still left intact for me to experience again. The acting is spot on, as Olivier and Fontaine turn in absolutely top notch performances and even Judith Anderson turns in some great work as the seemingly psycho Mrs. Danvers. The sets and camerawork are also pretty flawless and as the book points out, the director does a good job of making a character out of Manderley itself. If I had any complaints, it would be that not a lot seems to take place in the first ninety or so minutes of the film. Mr. de Winter meets the young girl, they get married, and the girl is left to adjust to having her life completely turned upside down and deal with the crazy Mrs. Danvers to boot. Now that's not saying that the first ninety minutes is boring. The actors do a great job and turn in great performances and the story still manages to flow along quite nicely, despite the fact that there aren't constant things happening. All in all, Hitchcock does a fantastic job of injecting some thrills into a movie that would otherwise have none.

RATING: 7.5/10 I still have to go with "Blackmail" as my favorite of the four Hitchcock movies from the book so far, but Rebecca is a definite second.

NEXT UP: Fantasia...More Disney and thankfully I have an old videotape copy of this one, which is otherwise out of print.

June 25, 2010 12:04am