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| The second Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) is trapped in the shadow of her husband's deceased first wife, Rebecca. |
Release Date: Apr. 12, 1940. Running Time: 130 minutes. Screenplay: Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison. Based on the novel by: Daphne du Maurier. Producer: David O. Selznick. Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
THE PLOT:
A shy young woman (Joan Fontaine) is walking near a cliffside in Monte Carlo when she sees a man standing at the edge, looking as if he might jump. The man is George Fortescue Maximilian de Winter (Laurence Olivier) - "Maxim" for short. Over the following days, Maxim begins calling on her, culminating in a proposal of marriage - and even after learning that he is still in mourning for his first wife, Rebecca, the young woman eagerly accepts.
The marriage and honeymoon are blissful, but the couple's joy is poisoned after Maxim brings her home to his estate, Manderley. The young bride is intimidated by the size of the de Winter mansion, and her middle-class upbringing has left her with no sense of how to interact with servants. Worse, everywhere she turns she finds reminders of Rebecca: the beautiful and stylish Rebecca who threw lavish parties and was beloved by all.
Perhaps most beloved by Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), the estate's housekeeper, who remains as devoted to Rebecca in death as she was in life. She muses aloud to unsettle her unwelcome new mistress:
"Sometimes, when I walk along the corridor, I fancy I hear her just behind me. That quick light step, I couldn't mistake it anywhere... I wonder if she doesn't come back here to Manderley, to watch you and Mr. de Winter together..."
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CHARACTERS:
Maxim de Winter: Since the story is told almost exclusively from the point of view of his new wife, we perceive Maxim much as she does. He's initially a distant figure, keeping his inner self hidden even as he moves between moodiness, moments of charm, and sudden bursts of anger. Olivier handles Maxim's mood changes well, keeping a melancholy even in his happier moments so that the shifts feel internally consistent. For much of the film, he comes across as the more powerful of the central couple: He is older, and as a born aristocrat has no discomfort with the lifestyle that makes his new bride so uncomfortable. Then, at the 90-minute mark, his secrets are revealed; and at that moment, he is shown to be weaker: not only weaker than Rebecca, but also weaker than his second wife, with his temper having the potential to prove his downfall.
Mrs. de Winter: Joan Fontaine excels at playing a shy character. Like Olivier, she doesn't overplay it. She's quiet, particularly in the early scenes, but her face is in almost constant motion as she sits and listens, reacting to what others say. She seems to shrink into herself after she arrives at Manderley, as if sensing the very walls judging her. Crucially for the character's plausibility, when she eventually finds her strength, Fontaine doesn't present her as suddenly having perfect poise. She still sits a bit awkwardly, and reacts with visible anxiety, even as she becomes more confident in her interactions with others.
Mrs. Danvers: As the baleful housekeeper, Judith Anderson dominates the screen. There's a frostiness in every look and statement that makes her hatred of her new mistress apparent even when she's feigning politeness. One of the most memorable scenes sees Maxim's new wife finally going into Rebecca's old bedroom, which has been kept exactly as she left it, like a shrine. Mrs. Danvers is only too eager to show it to her. When she sees that a hairbrush has been slightly moved, she makes a disapproving noise and moves the brush back into place. She then shows off Rebecca's luxurious dresses, fondling a plush sleeve and then caressing her new mistress's cheek with it. Later, more openly hostile, Mrs. Danvers whispers poison in her ear, telling her that she can never be Rebecca's equal and that Rebecca will always win. All soft whispers, which leave the young woman far more devastated than if they'd been shouted at her.
Jack Favell: George Sanders once again plays his patented cad as Rebecca's "favorite cousin." In his first meeting with Maxim's second wife, he is superficially charming but doesn't even disguise his dismissive attitude. Though it's instantly obvious that he's a wretch - and also an amateur blackmailer (who's not very good at it) - he is at least sharp enough to recognize what Mrs. Danvers does not: That by the end, the new wife has grown into her role and is not quite as easy a target as he and Danvers had at first believed.
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| Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) whispers poison to the new Mrs. de Winter. |
THOUGHTS:
As the 1930s ended and the 1940s began, producer David Selznick was at his apex. He had purchased the rights to two massively successful novels, and oversaw their transformation into motion pictures. Thus, Selznick International had its name on back-to-back Best Picture Winners: Gone with the Wind and Rebecca. For the latter work, he signed English director Alfred Hitchcock, having been impressed with the atmosphere he had brought to such thrillers as The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes. The result was the only Hitchcock film to win Best Picture.
Selznick insisted on a faithful adaptation, and Rebecca actually opens with Joan Fontaine narrating the opening paragraph of the novel: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.". As Fontaine narrates the character's dream-like journey through the gate and up the drive, the camera follows, bringing us ever closer to the mansion. Our first sight of Manderley is of an ominous mansion that all but screams "haunted house" (and that was surely an inspiration for Dark Shadows' Collinwood). Then we're taken out of the dream to the start of the story: The image of Laurence Olivier, standing at the edge of a cliff, looking like he wants to jump.
The Monte Carlo scenes play out almost like a romantic comedy, with Fontaine's character lying to her employer, Mrs. Hopper (Florence Bates), as she sneaks out on dates with Maxim. There's a sense of fun as Maxim makes quiet, barbed insults to the obnoxious Mrs. Hopper, who is entirely oblivious to his dislike of her and harbors designs on him even as he woos her assistant. It could almost pass for a screwball comedy, but for Maxim himself - whose mood swings keep pointing to something that's "off" even before the action moves to Manderley.
The disquiet of the opening returns once the couple arrives at the mansion. Hitchcock uses his mastery of visual composition to make Joan Fontaine's character looks small and isolated. When we first see her dining with her new husband, it's across a large table - with a pull-back shot emphasizing the distance between them. She's often shown in long shots, made tiny against the hugeness of the mansion. It's in such a shot that she first enters Rebecca's bedroom - a small, thin figure on the right of the frame, staring up at the huge, high portrait of Maxim's undefeatable first wife.
The drama builds to a truly splendid scene in which Maxim's wife finally confronts him in a dilapidated seaside shack filled with Rebecca's possessions. It's here that Maxim reveals his secret, allowing Laurence Olivier to show his range here. Maxim is melancholy, haunted, angry, heartbroken, and utterly defeated. He tries to shock his new wife, to drive her away by making himself into a monster... only to reveal, a moment later, how broken and even pathetic he feels.
This scene, and the entire ending of the movie, are harmed by Hays Office requirements that led to a significant change in the story. More on that in my companion post, David O. Selznick vs. the Hays Office. Despite interference from the censors, this is a superb sequence. Fine performances by both Olivier and Fontaine (whose nonverbal acting is superb) are enhanced by Hitchcock's technical flourishes. As Maxim describes the last time he saw Rebecca, nothing as obvious as a flashback occurs. The camera just focuses on the now-empty space where Rebecca stood, then moves where she had moved... effectively making her a character in her absence.
Throughout the movie, we never see an image of Rebecca. Fontaine stares up at her portrait, but the portrait is obscured from us. We see her monogrammed pillowcase, her monogramed correspondence, her luxurious clothes... But we never see her, and her presence ends up being all the stronger for that as a Rebecca is invented in our imaginations who is more vivid and more ethereal than could have been created by the casting of any mere human actress.
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REMAKES AND RETELLINGS:
I'm aware of three other versions of Rebecca, though I've seen none of them. Two were made for television: a 1979 version starring Jeremy Brett as Maxim, Joanna David as Mrs. de Winter, and Anna Massey as Mrs. Danvers; and a 1997 miniseries with Charles Dance as Maxim, Emilia Fox as his new wife, and Diana Rigg as Mrs. Danvers. Both of these are generally well-regarded, though the 1979 version appears to have never been released on home video.
In 2020, Netflix released a new version, with Lily James as the main character, Armie Hammer as Maxim, and Kristin Scott Thomas as the sinister housekeeper. Though James and Scott Thomas received good notices, the movie itself was not well-reviewed, with many critics complaining of a lack of atmosphere. As I said, I've seen none of these versions... but the Netflix retelling is the one I would be least inclined to spend time watching.
OVERALL:
Despite changes forced on it by the film censorship office, Rebecca remains an excellent movie. The performances of Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, and Judith Anderson are splendid, and the film is enveloped in a disquieting atmosphere that helps carry the story's slower patches. It is a slow burn that requires patience, but it rewards that patience with a haunting story that is very well-told.
Overall Rating: 9/10.
Related Post: David O. Selznick vs. the Hays Office: Battling the Censors for Gone with the Wind and Rebecca
Outstanding Production - 1939: Gone with the Wind
Outstanding Motion Picture - 1941: How Green Was My Valley
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