Rebecca

Director: Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock

Overview

Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the classic psychological thriller Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film. Joan Fontaine plays the unnamed narrator, a young woman who works as a companion to the well-to-do Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates). She meets the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) in Monte Carlo, where they fall in love and get married. Maxim takes his new bride to Manderlay, a large country estate in Cornwall. However, the mansion's many servants refuse to accept her as the new lady of the house. They seem to be loyal to Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who died under mysterious circumstances. Particularly cruel to her is the prim housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), who is obsessed with Rebecca. She continually attests to her beauty and virtues (referring to her as "the real Mrs. de Winter") and even preserves her former bedroom as a shrine. The new Mrs. de Winter is nearly driven to madness as she begins to doubt her relationship with her husband and the presence of Rebecca starts to haunt her. Eventually, an investigation leads to the revelation about Rebecca's true nature. Producer David O. Selznick had the final cut of the picture, which was drastically altered from Hitchcock's original vision.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/05/2017
UPC:	0715515203319
Original Release:	1940
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Time:	2:10:00
Sales rank:	9,586

Special Features

New 4k digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; Audio Commentary from 1990 featuring film scholar Leonard J. Leff; Isolated music and effects track; New conversation between film critic and author Molly Haskell and scholar Patricia White; New interview with film historian Craig Barron on Rebecca's visual effects; Daphne du Maurier: In the Footsteps of "Rebecca," a 2016 French television documentary; Making-Of Documentary from 2007; Footage of screen, hair, makeup, and costume tests for actors Joan Fontaine, Anne Baxter, Vivien Leigh, Margaret Sullavan, and Loretta Young; Casting gallery with notes by Director Alfred Hitchcock and Producer David O. Selznick; Hitchcock interviewed by Tom Snyder on a 1975 episode of NBC's Tomorrow; Tomorrow interview with Fontaine from 1980; Audio Interviews from 1986 with actor Judith Anderson and Fontaine; Three radio versions of Rebecca, from 1938, 1944, and 1950, including Orson Welles's adaptation of the novel for the Mercury Theatre; Theatrical rerelease trailer; Plus: An essay by critic and Setznick biographer David Thomson and selected Selznick production correspondent, including with Hitchcock

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Laurence Olivier	Maxim de Winter
Joan Fontaine	Mrs. de Winter
George Sanders	Jack Flavell
Judith Anderson	Mrs. Danvers
Nigel Bruce	Maj. Giles Lacey
Reginald Denny	Frank Crowley
C. Aubrey Smith	Col. Julyan
Gladys Cooper	Beatrice Lacy
Florence Bates	Mrs. Van Hopper
Melville Cooper	The Coroner
Leo G. Carroll	Dr. Baker
Leonard Carey	Ben
Lumsden Hare	Tabb
Edward Fielding	Frith
Philip Winter	Robert
Forrester Harvey	Chalcroft
Billy Bevan	Policeman
Alfred Hitchcock	Man Outside Phone Booth
Leyland Hodgson	Chauffeur

Technical Credits

Joan Harrison

Michael Hogan

Philip MacDonald

Robert E. Sherwood

Alfred Hitchcock	Director
George Barnes	Cinematographer
Edmond F. Bernoudy	Asst. Director
Howard Bristol	Set Decoration/Design
Jack Cosgrove	Special Effects
Joan Harrison	Screenwriter
Michael Hogan	Screenwriter
Hal Kern	Editor
Philip MacDonald	Screenwriter
James Newcom	Editor
Jack Noyes	Sound/Sound Designer
Joseph B. Platt	Set Decoration/Design
David O. Selznick	Producer
Robert E. Sherwood	Screenwriter
Franz Waxman	Score Composer
Lyle Wheeler	Art Director
Daphne du Maurier	Source Author

Editorial Reviews

Producer David O. Selznick's 's second consecutive Best Picture (after the previous year's Gone With the Wind) and another enormously popular adaptation of a bestseller, this adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel was also the first American film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenwriters Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison recreated du Maurier's novel precisely, complete with the ideal casting of new star Laurence Olivier as brooding Maxim de Winter and insecure neophyte Joan Fontaine as his timid new bride. Rebecca displayed Hitchcock's unparalleled talent for ominous atmosphere, as he derived suspense from the clash between Fontaine and Judith Anderson's coldly sadistic, Rebecca-obsessed Mrs. Danvers. The elaborately appointed Manderley mansion became a character in itself, with Rebecca's expressively lit, diaphanously curtained bedroom, overlooking a suitably wild ocean, evoking her all-consuming absent presence. Selznick's and Hitchcock's attention to detail paid off with eleven Oscar nominations, including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, and it won the top prize as well as an award for George Barnes's cinematography. However, control freak Hitchcock took a break from control freak Selznick for his next film, Foreign Correspondent (1940). Lucia Bozzola

All Movie Guide

Producer David O. Selznick's 's second consecutive Best Picture (after the previous year's Gone With the Wind) and another enormously popular adaptation of a bestseller, this adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel was also the first American film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenwriters Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison recreated du Maurier's novel precisely, complete with the ideal casting of new star Laurence Olivier as brooding Maxim de Winter and insecure neophyte Joan Fontaine as his timid new bride. Rebecca displayed Hitchcock's unparalleled talent for ominous atmosphere, as he derived suspense from the clash between Fontaine and Judith Anderson's coldly sadistic, Rebecca-obsessed Mrs. Danvers. The elaborately appointed Manderley mansion became a character in itself, with Rebecca's expressively lit, diaphanously curtained bedroom, overlooking a suitably wild ocean, evoking her all-consuming absent presence. Selznick's and Hitchcock's attention to detail paid off with eleven Oscar nominations, including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, and it won the top prize as well as an award for George Barnes's cinematography. However, control freak Hitchcock took a break from control freak Selznick for his next film, Foreign Correspondent (1940).

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola