Rebecca – 1940 – English – Suspense – Drama
Rebecca – 1940 – English
Drama film directed in 1940 by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders…
Synopsis: A shy lady’s companion, staying in Monte Carlo with her stuffy employer, meets the wealthy Maxim de Winter (Sir Laurence Olivier). She and Max fall in love, marry, and return to Manderley, his large country estate in Cornwall.
Max is still troubled by the death of his first wife, Rebecca, in a boating accident the year before. The second Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) clashes with the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Dame Judith Anderson), and discovers that Rebecca still has a strange hold on everyone at Manderley.
Review: This movie is a 10 from the very beginning. The casting is brilliant, the story is hauntingly beautiful, the performances are the best of what Hollywood once was, and the sets are of quality design and architecture. The direction is awesome, but it’s Hitchcock, and I expect nothing less from his productions.
Rebecca is a glamorous, beautiful socialite who has won the hearts of all who knew her. Well, almost all. But a year after her untimely death, her grieving husband near his wit’s end, has grown seemingly suicidal and aloof.
He engages his grief while on a trip to Monte Carlo, and meets the beautiful personal secretary and maid of a long-time friend, Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper. She is young, naive, and completely unprepared for the life which is awaiting her; all qualities which George Fortescu Maximillian ‘Maxim’ de Winter finds endearing.
I won’t detail the events in this movie, as the story itself is quite haunting, with surprises around every turn.
This is a definite “must have” in any suspense / horror / Hitchcock / classics movie collection, and a mandatory must see for all fans of all movies.