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Rating: 5 out of 5
I have been on a book-reading mission lately. Currently, I average around 5 books a month. My mom and I were talking about the books we were reading or going to read. She told me to check out PBS: The Great American Read. It’s a list of America’s 100 most-loved books. As I looked through the list, the book Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I don’t know why it did. My mom read it before I did, and she said it was good. One day while at work, I was looking through their movie catalog and spotted the film Rebecca from 1940. I wondered if it was based on the book and saw that it was directed by the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. I decided to read the book first and then watch the movie. The book was freakin good as a psychological thrill ride with a twist and some suspense.
As stated before, the 1940 version was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was his first American project. A young woman (Fontaine), whose name is not stated, is in Monte Carlo, working as a lady’s companion for the talkative Mrs. Van Hopper. While at the hotel, she meets the recently widowed and very wealthy Maxim de Winter (Sir Olivier). During the vacation for Maxim, the pair fall in love and suddenly get married. After a whirlwind honeymoon, the couple returns to Maxim’s legendary family estate, Mandalay. The new Mrs. de Winter is greeted by a tough staff. Rebecca the deceased wife of Maxim, seems to have a large shadow over the house and staff. Mrs. de Winter feels like everything she does is compared to the late Rebecca. Leading the charge for team Rebecca is Mrs. Danvers (Dame Anderson), Rebecca’s personal maid, who straight up despises Mrs. de Winter. As time passes, Mrs. de Winter feels like she will always be second best to Rebecca and that Maxim longs for her. Little does she know that the more she learns about Rebecca, the more nothing seems as they are.
For Hitchcock’s first American film, homebody made sure to entertain. Now is it as good as his later works? Nope, but it does justice to the book and almost keeps it exactly like the book, which is what I like. Sometimes a film will go completely off the rails when it goes off a book, and then it doesn’t even resemble the book. The Master of Suspense does an outstanding job keeping you wondering why Rebecca was so important.
What I like about this film is that we never see Rebecca. She died before the movie started, and you have to use your imagination about what she would look like. What is great about never having her in the film is that Hitchcock builds on the reputation and presence of Rebecca. Her presence was larger than life around Mandalay. She was a figure that stood above the famous house. Everything that Mrs. de Winter did was compared to Rebecca. It was always Rebecca did this and that. Rebecca was the toast of the town. Rebecca was beautiful beyond belief. Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca!
What the film and story did so well was show that Mrs. Danvers was a loyal minion to Rebecca but also one of the antagonists. I say she was one of them because Rebecca was the other. Mrs. Danvers is a straight-up cold. No one in the world could take the place of her beloved Rebecca. She plotted to have Mrs. de Winter kill herself by trying to convince her to jump from the window. Straight up a loyal minion to the very end. Rebecca was the other antagonist because when we listened to Maxim’s story about her, we found that she was a straight-up bitch. A heartless, selfish one at that. She displayed a loving wife, but she was trifling to the highest level behind the scenes. All this made for an excellent film.
As far as the cast goes, each person did their job to make for a thrilling film. As the second Mrs. de Winter, Joan Fontaine did her job as the loving new wife who seemed unable to hold a candle to Rebecca. She was sweet and innocent, but during the film, the pressure of trying to be like Rebecca became too much. Gurl, stand on your own two feet and let everyone know that there was a new woman in town.
Laurence Olivier as George Fortescue Maximilian “Maxim” de Winter was freakin intense. Throughout the film, you don’t know if he is happy to be with his new bride. Whenever people talked about Rebecca, he seemed extremely quiet or broke down. Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers was equally excellent. She appeared so expressionless throughout the whole film. She never seemed to smile or be surprised about anything. She had the same stoic look throughout the movie, which was terrific.
I would highly recommend reading the book before watching the movie. The movie does justice to the book and was done with fantastic performances. Hitchcock did an excellent job bringing the book to life and making it thrilling. Definitely take some time out of your day and have a movie thriller marathon. When you do, add this film to the list.
