Rebecca (film)

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Rebecca
Image:Rebecca 1940 film poster.jpg
Directed by	Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by	Selznick International Pictures
Written by	Daphne du Maurier (novel) Joan Harrison Robert E. Sherwood (adaptation)
Starring	Laurence Olivier Joan Fontaine Judith Anderson George Sanders
Music by	Franz Waxman
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	12 April 1940
Running time	130 min.
Language	English
Budget	$1,288,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Rebecca is an Academy Award–winning 1940 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project. An adaptation by Joan Harrison and Robert E. Sherwood of British author Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca, it was produced by David O. Selznick.

1 Summary
2 Trivia
3 Featured cast
4 Awards
- 4.1 Academy Awards won
- 4.2 Academy Award nominations
5 External links

[edit] Summary

Rebecca stars Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as his late wife's servant, Mrs. Danvers. The film is a gothic tale about the lingering memory of the title character, which still controls her husband, his new bride, and the housekeeper of their estate, Manderley, long after her death.

At Selznick's insistence, the plot of the novel Rebecca is largely unchanged in the film. Hitchcock was even able to sneak past the Hollywood Production Code the lesbianism of the housekeeper who is still obsessed with Rebecca, even after her death. It was one of the earliest, but far from the only, example of Hitchcock slipping veiled references to homosexuality into his films. Rope and Strangers on a Train are two notable examples of Hitchcock films that imply homosexual subtext without overtly dealing with the issue.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

One plot detail in the novel was altered to comply with the Hollywood Production Code, however. In the novel, Maxim shoots Rebecca, but in the film, he doesn't kill her, he thinks of killing her because she taunts him by saying she is pregnant with someone else's child, then she suddenly falls back and hits her head on a piece of boat equipment or an anchor and dies from her head injuries, because, according to the Code, murder of a spouse had to be punished in a film.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

In order to maintain the dark atmosphere of the book, Hitchcock insisted that the film be shot in black and white.
Selznick looked unsuccessfully all over America (particularly New England) for a suitable location to portray Manderley. In the end he was forced to use a miniature instead.
As in the novel, the protagonist who narrates the tale is never identified by name. The original script named the heroine Daphne, after Daphne du Maurier, the writer of the novel. Selznick objected and the name was dropped.
Ronald Colman turned down the part of Max de Winter.
More than 20 actresses were screen-tested for the role of Mrs. de Winter, among them Anne Baxter, Loretta Young, Margaret Sullavan and Vivien Leigh (who was involved with Sir Laurence Olivier at the time). Olivier pushed strongly for Leigh to get the role; as it was awarded to newcomer Joan Fontaine instead, he retaliated by treating Fontaine badly. Hitchcock used this to his advantage by telling Fontaine that everyone on the set hated her, in order to magnify the required shyness and unease of the role.
Hitchcock can be seen walking past a phone booth just after Jack Favell makes a call in the final part of the movie.
Rebecca was the only Hitchcock film to receive an Academy Award for Best Picture. This went to producer David O. Selznick.
Joan Fontaine was nominated in the Academy Award for Best Actress category. The prize however went to Ginger Rogers. Judith Anderson, who was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, also went home empty-handed, as did Laurence Olivier, who lost out to James Stewart.
In Spain, a rebeca refers to a variety of female knit jacket, after the one worn by the protagonist of the film.

[edit] Featured cast

Actor	Role
Laurence Olivier	George Fortescu Maximillian 'Maxim' de Winter
Joan Fontaine	The Second Mrs. de Winter
George Sanders	Jack Favell
Judith Anderson	Mrs. Danvers
Nigel Bruce	Major Giles Lacy
Reginald Denny	Frank Crawley
C. Aubrey Smith	Colonel Julyan
Gladys Cooper	Beatrice Lacy
Florence Bates	Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper
Melville Cooper	Coroner
Leo G. Carroll	Dr. Baker

[edit] Awards

[edit] Academy Awards won

Best Picture - David O. Selznick
Best Cinematography, Black and White - George Barnes

[edit] Academy Award nominations

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Laurence Olivier
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Joan Fontaine
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Judith Anderson
Best Director - Alfred Hitchcock
Art Direction, Black and White - Lyle R. Wheeler
Special Effects - Jack Cosgrove, Arthur Johns
Best Film Editing - Hal C. Kern
Best Music, Original Score - Franz Waxman
Best Writing, Screenplay - Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison

[edit] External links

Alfred Hitchcock's films

1920s: The Pleasure Garden • The Mountain Eagle • The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog • Downhill • Easy Virtue • The Ring • The Farmer's Wife • Champagne • The Manxman • Blackmail • 1930s: Juno and the Paycock • Murder! • Elstree Calling • The Skin Game • Mary • Number Seventeen • Rich and Strange • Waltzes from Vienna • The Man Who Knew Too Much • The 39 Steps • Secret Agent • Sabotage • Young and Innocent • The Lady Vanishes • Jamaica Inn • 1940s: Rebecca • Foreign Correspondent • Mr. & Mrs. Smith • Suspicion • Saboteur • Shadow of a Doubt • Lifeboat • Aventure Malgache • Bon Voyage • Spellbound • Notorious • The Paradine Case • Rope • Under Capricorn • 1950s: Stage Fright • Strangers on a Train • I Confess • Dial M for Murder • Rear Window • To Catch a Thief • The Trouble with Harry • The Man Who Knew Too Much • The Wrong Man • Vertigo • North by Northwest • 1960s: Psycho • The Birds • Marnie • Torn Curtain • Topaz • 1970s: Frenzy • Family Plot

Academy Award for Best Picture: Winners (1927-1940)^†