Rebecca (1940)
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..."
Director: Alfred Hitchcock · Writers: Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison
Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.
Where to watch
Brew
Trailer
Director
Alfred Hitchcock
Cast
Laurence Olivier
Maxim de Winter 
Joan Fontaine
Mrs. de Winter 
George Sanders
Jack Favell 
Judith Anderson
Mrs. Danvers 
Gladys Cooper
Beatrice Lacy 
Nigel Bruce
Giles Lacy 
Reginald Denny
Frank Crawley 
C. Aubrey Smith
Colonel Julyan 
Melville Cooper
Coroner 
Florence Bates
Edythe Van Hopper 
Leonard Carey
Ben 
Leo G. Carroll
Dr. Baker User Reviews (6)
A good movie and interesting plot but the characters are a little bit exaggerated and the outcome is quite expectable.
A poor "lady's companion", so self-effacing that we are never given her name (Joan Fontaine), suddenly finds her life changed when a moody widower, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier), proposes to marry her and take her to his splendid estate of Manderley. It seems like a fairy-tale turned true, but it is not. On reaching Manderley, the new Mrs. de Winter (still unnamed) finds herself out of place, as Maxim seems to drift away and the hostile housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) repeatedly tells her that she will never live up to the standard set by Maxim's first wife Rebecca. What was Rebecca really like? The perfect English lady, or a hypocrite who dazzled the people around her? Where do Maxim's affections really lie? The questions not only create a great movie mystery, but a portrait of an unequal marriage between an arrogant aristocrat and a neurotically dependent …
Absolutely perfect Gothic Thriller that has many imitators but few of equal quality. With "Rebecca" about to hit the Broadway stage (as a musical!), I thought it was time to write my review of perhaps my favorite Hitchcock film. I recall the first time I saw this on TV almost 30 years ago on the late show, I had set my VCR to tape it, but woke up to start watching a bit of it, and stayed up all night to watch it all. That's how good a film it is. Daphne Du Maurier's tale of a shy companion who shocks her employer by winning the most desired wealthy widow in England is gripping, suspenseful, and filled with innuendo. Joan Fontaine never gave a more lovely performance as the awkward bride who leaves her hysterically selfish employer (Florence Bates) to marry the brooding Maxim De Winter (Laurence Olivier) and finds animosity from the darkly dressed Mrs. Danver (Judith Anderson) who rese…
Do you think the dead come back and watch the living? Rebecca is directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted to screen play from the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name. It stars Laurence Olvier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson. Cinematography is by George Barnes and music scored by Franz Waxman. After meeting and marrying 'Maxim' de Winter (Olivier), the Second Mrs. de Winter (Fontaine), finds life at his English estate, Manderley, far from comfortable because the servants and the house serve to remind her of the first Mrs. de Winter, whose death remains a source of mystery. What did happen to the first lady of the house? Can this newly married couple survive the oppressive cloud that looms large over the mansion? A Gothic emotional near masterpiece, Alfred Hitchcock's first American film may seem a bit too serviceable at times, something he was also aware of himself, bu…
We saw this quite recently on the big screen at Somerset House in London. One of those outdoor screenings - and the fact that it poured with rain on hundreds of us didn't matter one jot (though the hampers got quite sodden). Olivier and the eerily stupendous Judith Anderson provide the ultimate in sophisticated horror partnerships and make this by far my favourite Hitchcock film. Joan Fontaine is an expert at conveying the naive, adoring vulnerability of the second "Mrs. de Winter", combatting a foe she cannot hope to defeat and George Sanders is almost as sinister as he makes up the quartet in this bleak, frightening and totally enthralling two hours of cinema.
**One of the greatest films of Hitchcock's career.** Alfred Hitchcock was truly a master, and there are not many directors who can present a CV so vast, so rich and so deserving of acclaim. Ironically, he did not win a single Oscar for his work as a director and even this film, which was one of the most awarded in his work, only won two Oscars (Best Film and Best Black-and-White Cinematography) at the 1941 ceremony. The film was produced by David O. Selznick through his own studio, which was then busy completing and releasing “Gone With the Wind”. He had acquired the film rights to the original novel, by Daphne du Maurier, and hoped that Hitchcock would be faithful to the material. He reluctantly agreed, but imposed his deeply detailed working methods, significantly delaying filming, which was just one of the points of friction between producer and director. Things got to the p…
