
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 str... (Full plot summary below)
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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.
Leave your thoughts about Rebecca.
| EmpirePatrick HumphriesPerhaps without the shock and suspense of subsequent work, this is nevertheless another undoubted masterpiece from the atmospheric film maker, and just as essential. |
| Slant MagazineChuck BowenA key film in Alfred Hitchcock’s evolution as a master explorer of sexual neuroses. |
| New York Daily NewsKate CameronThe suspense of the story is magnificently sustained throughout the film, which didn't surprise us, as maintaining suspense in a story has always been Director Hitchcock's forte |
| ReelViewsJames BerardinelliWith Rebecca, he (Hitchcock) illustrates an aptitude for crafting not only psychological terror but drama and romance. |
| Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenThe performances are first-rate, and Anderson as the obsessively attached maid Mrs. Danvers is a perverse gem. |
| BBCThomas DawsonProduced by David Selznick, Rebecca is a delirious Gothic melodrama, swimming with queer undercurrents |
| The New YorkerPauline KaelThrough its first two-thirds it is as perfect a myth of adolescence as any of the Disney films, documenting the childlike, nameless heroine's initiation into the adult mysteries of sex, death, and identity, and the impossibility of reconciling these forces with family strictures. |
| The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsShot like a horror film and featuring Olivier as one of the least sympathetic heroes in the Hitchcock canon, Rebecca's smart extrapolation on themes inherited from gothic thrillers and Brontë novels allows the director to begin with a suspenseful romance that barely keeps its subtext under the surface, and smuggle in a story of one woman's immersion into the sexual expectations of her era. |
| User ReviewbeeanadouRebecca no longer existed when the story happened yet we see her shadows everywhere, the new wife of the Manson owner could even get the title "Mrs. de Winter" with Mrs. Danvers around. |
| User Reviewkyle20ellisI am 17, and I love this movie. One definite positive of Rebecca is the masterful direction by Alfred Hitchcock, full of the usual twists and turns that make his films so pleasing. The chilling and suspenseful story, of a timid young woman marrying a man and finding herself in the shadow of his dead first wife, has many complex issues, such as the possibilities of suicide, murder and mistaken identity, all of which took me completely by surprise. Rebecca also has gorgeous black and white cinematography, and a beautifully atmospheric music score. But it's the performances from the distinguished cast that holds this film together. Laurence Olivier, one of Britain's finest stage and film actors(you only have to see him in Shakespeare to know the talent this man had), gives a towering performance as Maxim De Winter, a broken man haunted by his first wife's death. The lovely Joan Fontaine is the picture of innocence and vulnerability as the 2nd Mrs De Winter, giving a genuine sense of fright and emotion throughout. Also superb is the suave George Sanders as the rather loathsome blackmailing Favel, who smirks and makes acidic remarks as effortlessly as Clark Gable did in Gone With The wind. But stealing the acting honours is Judith Anderson as the housekeeper Mrs Danvers, a performance that is truly sinister, like the scene when she sets Manderly on fire, her facial expression looking out of the window gave me the shivers. The script was tense, dark and flawlessly delivered. Through the characters we hear that Rebecca was beautiful and possessed all the other positive virtues, so I was shocked when that wasn't to be. All in all, a chilling and dark film, that is a must see. 10/10 Bethany Cox. |