YEAR: 1940 
GENRE: Romantic Thriller 
RATING: NR

"Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again..." From the first classic line of this unforgettable film, Rebecca casts its spell. David O. Selznick brought Alfred Hitchcock to the United States in order to give this adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel the proper atmosphere. The resulting film is a stunning marriage of their sensibilities. It paid off critically and financially as well. Like Gone with the Wind, which Selznick released a year earlier, Rebecca won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Laurence Olivier stars as Maxim de Winter, who, reeling from the recent and unexpected death of his glamorous wife Rebecca, impulsively marries a young and adoring governess (Joan Fontaine). The new Mrs. de Winter tries to fit into her role as mistress of the great house Manderley, but every step she takes is haunted by Rebecca's spirit. The ghost's brooding presence is personified by the insanely meticulous Mrs. Danvers, brilliantly portrayed by Judith Anderson. As Fontaine's character begins to uncover the dark secrets of the de Winter clan, the house seems to take on a life of its own. Passionate love and romance blend seamlessly with typically Hitchcockian emphases on guilt, sexuality, and gothic horror. The production values are stunning and the cast is excellent, down to the least of the supporting players. While Rebecca has enough surprises to captivate even the most jaded of moviegoers, it is also one of those rare films that improves with each viewing. It is an ageless, timeless adult movie. In today's films, most twists and surprises are ridiculous or just gratuitous, so it's sobering to look back on this film where every revelation not only shocks, but makes organic sense with the story line. Laurence Olivier is dashing and weak, fierce and cowed. Joan Fontaine is strong yet submissive, defiant yet accommodating. There isn't a false moment or misstep, but the film must have killed the employment outlook of any women named Danvers for about 20 years. Brilliant stuff. 

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

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock 

WRITERS: Daphne Du Maurier, Philip MacDonald, 
Michael Hogan, Robert E. Sherwood 
and Joan Harrison 

PRODUCER: David O. Selznick 

COMPANY: Selznick International Pictures 

AWARDS: 
OSCARS - Won for Best Picture and Best Cinematography - Black and White. Also nominated for Best Director, Best Actor (Olivier), Best Actress (Fontaine), Best Supporting Actress (Anderson), Best Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Musical Score, Best Special Effects and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration - Black and White 

FOOTNOTES: 
...Laurence Olivier was insisting that his girlfriend at the time, Vivien Leigh, be cast as the second Mrs. de Winter. She was tested for the part, along with 20 other actresses, and then-newcomer Joan Fontaine was awarded the part. 

...Anne Baxter was one of those who tested, and while she did not get this role, Hitchcock used her in I Confess in 1953. 

...Miffed at the rejection of Leigh, he was less than polite to his assigned co-star. At one point, he told director Alfred Hitchcock, "Fontaine's horrible, old boy." Hitchcock told Fontaine that everyone on the set hated to see her get the role, making her completely uneasy and shy - precisely the characteristics he wanted to see from Mrs. de Winter. The cruel hoax got the actress an Oscar nomination. 

...Author Du Maurier gave Mrs. de Winter no first name in the novel, and none was assigned to her for the film. 

...The only Hitchcock film to ever win a Best Picture Oscar. 

...Hitchcock's patented cameo appearance occurs at the end of the film as he walks past a phone booth where George Sanders has just made a call. 

QUOTES: 
Maxim de Winter: I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool. 
 

Jack Flavell: I'd like to have your advice on how to live comfortably without working hard. 
 

Maxim: I knew where Rebecca's body was, lying on that cabin floor at the bottom of the sea. 
Mrs. de Winter: How did you know, Max? 
Maxim: Because I put it there. 

REBECCA
by Daphne Du Maurier
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. . ." With these words the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room in the immense, foreboding estate were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten - a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. And with an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife - the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.