Old Film Review. Hitchcock Series: ‘Rebecca’ (1940)

photo edited by Laura Lai 

by Laura Lai/ Review

Film’s Title: Rebecca 

Lead Actors: Laurence Olivier (Maxim de Winter), Joan Fontaine (Mrs. de Winter), Leonard Carey (Ben)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock 

The movie is based on the novel Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. 

Rebecca is a romantic suspense movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock and inspired by the novel of the same name written by D. Du Maurier and published in 1938.

            It is the story of a newlywed couple, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) and his wife (Joan Fontaine), fighting with the ghost of Maxim’s first wife, Rebecca. The couple met in the lobby of the Hotel ‘Princess’ in Monte Carlo. They got married and decided to live at Mr. de Winter’s residence at Manderley. The residence was a big stone house, taken care of by several servants, and it kept inside its walls lots of souvenirs difficult to live with. The entire movie spins around the mystery of Rebecca’s death and the investigation of her death once a boat was found with her body inside. Suspicions of murder and claims of suicide make this 2-hour movie captivating. 

This movie is a black-and-white movie. And the love story is about who, meaning Maxim, his second wife – that is only known as Mrs. de Winter in the movie – and the ghost of the first wife, Rebecca. The story is about what, is about when, and how long. When it is about how intense their love is, the movie impresses with its acting and with lines. Joan Fontaine did a marvelous role by playing the second wife of Maxim de Winter. She entered the role of the young, inexperienced, and devoted wife naturally. Fantastic!

In the same line of ideas, the more recent movies that happen to contain a love story put a lot of emphasis on how when intensity or passion needs to be emphasized – and it is, usually, by demolishing the whole room. No, it is not a critique! It is an observation about the movies then and about movies now. Nowadays, it might be more about violence and nudity. Then, it was more about writing words and dialogue exchange. But one thing stayed constant: actors' talent. They are today as talented as before. 

            Similar to most of Hitchcock’s movies, in Rebecca, the viewers came across a dog – Jasper -  and some great shots. I particularly want to stress the dinner scene (min. 34) that starts from the plate and the napkin (with the initials of the first wife as an element between the newlywed), then the attention is directed toward the second wife, then the entire room, including Mr. de Winter and the servants - these are all the current and past characters in Manderley. Then, the next sequence starts with Manderley. It is a scene with no lines that make as one thousand words but backed by a piece of beautiful music. Brilliant! A hilarious scene is the one in which the two got married and forgot the certificate that was thrown at them from the window upstairs. From an artistic point of view, this is a brilliant idea to show how much in love the two were. Last but not least, I want to stress the fantastic secondary role played by Leonard Carey interpreting Ben's character, living in the cottage next to the sea. He does not have many lines in the movie, but his acting was great and his entries wonderful.

Enjoy the movie!

P.S.: See you in the next review of Hitchcock’s film series!