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Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce ... see more see more... , Reginald Denny , C. Aubrey Smith , Gladys Cooper , Florence Bates , Melville Cooper , Leo G Carroll , Leonard Carey , Lumsden Hare , Edward Fielding , Philip Winter , Forrester Harvey , Billy Bevan , Leyland Hodgson

Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the classic psychological thriller Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film. Joan Fontaine plays the unnamed narrator, a young woman who works as a c... read more read more...ompanion to the well-to-do Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates). She meets the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) in Monte Carlo, where they fall in love and get married. Maxim takes his new bride to Manderlay, a large country estate in Cornwall. However, the mansion's many servants refuse to accept her as the new lady of the house. They seem to be loyal to Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who died under mysterious circumstances. Particularly cruel to her is the prim housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), who is obsessed with Rebecca. She continually attests to her beauty and virtues (referring to her as "the real Mrs. de Winter") and even preserves her former bedroom as a shrine. The new Mrs. de Winter is nearly driven to madness as she begins to doubt her relationship with her husband and the presence of Rebecca starts to haunt her. Eventually, an investigation leads to the revelation about Rebecca's true nature. Producer David O. Selznick had the final cut of the picture, which was drastically altered from Hitchcock's original vision. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

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Unrated, 2 hr. 10 min.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Date: March 27, 1940

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DVD Release Date: March 13, 2001

Stats: 2,161 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,161)

  • cosmo313
    February 21, 2012
    cosmo313
    This was the first film Hitchcock made after moving to the U.S. to further his film career. The subject matter for this assignment is an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's eerie, gothic psychological chiller (with some romance moments) about an unnamed young woman who, after a sho... read morert, whirlwind romance, marries a wealthy widower. They take up residence in his country estate Manderlay, and from there, the young woman starts to go mad, mostly because it seems that Manderlay is haunted by the spectre of her husband's first wife Rebecca. She died under mysterious circumstances, and most of the staff seem to obsessively prefer her over her replacement, especially the particularly rough and cruel Mrs. Danvers.

    The film is brimming with lots of great stuff, especially a wonderful score by Franz Waxman, some great art direction, set design, gorgeous cinematography, and some excellent atmosphere, mood, and tone. This is a fine gothic psychological mystery chiller.

    This was Hitchcock's only Oscar winning film (it took Best Picture in 1940), and it seems odd to me that not only did this get best picture, but that none of Hitchcock's work got any love from the Academy. To be fair, Foreign Correspondant was in competetion for the top prize with Rebecca the same year, but still, none of his great stuff from the late 50s-early 60s?

    I enjoyed this film, but honestly, as much as I dig Hitch's work, I don't thnk this is Best Picture material, and it's rather overrated in general. Oh sure, I enjoyed it, but it really doesn't come off as all that special. It also doesn't help that it only somewhat seems like a proper Hitch film, something reinforced by the fact that the man himself called it a "Selznick film" instead of one of his own.

    Where the acting is concerned, Joan Fontaine is decent as our protagonist, and Olivier is passable as our newlywedded widower, but I can't help but feel that he was holding back a bit. It's not a bad performance, but it should be a great one. The film does have one performance that really is quite brilliant, and that is the one given by Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers. She's the real scene stealer here. Everything about her performance and just her in general is awesome, from her voice and delivery to her mannerisms and facial expressions, especially her fiendishly eerie glare, this is one of the greatest creepy characters out there.

    All in all, a decent enough film, but far from great. Maybe had Hitch had more control this could have really been a mesmerizing spectacle instead of a compromised offering from the Master of Suspense. Straight (but solid) B.
  • fb1664868775
    November 13, 2011
    fb1664868775
    This gothic tale has so many twists and turns, that more than 70 years later, it still has the capability to keep audiences on the edge of their seat.
  • SirPant
    September 26, 2011
    SirPant
    Rebecca is so many films rolled into one, it's a romance, a thriller, a horror but most importantly, it's a winner. You don't need to take it from me how beautiful Hitchcock's directing is, especially his older black and white films. The acting is fantastic, Florence Bates steals... read more most of the early scenes but this is very much Joan Fontaine's film, she is glorious and I completely fell in love with her after this. I would say it was one of Hitchcock's best films but then I would put at least 9 others in the same category. I absolutely adored it.
  • ceWEBrity
    September 16, 2011
    ceWEBrity
    Rebecca is a bizarre movie. I can think of few films from the early 1940s that are as tonally diffuse, playful with genre, and creepingly sinister as Hitchcock's first American film; it feels less like an adaptation and more like the ramblings of a mad genius regurgitating everyt... read morehing he knew about film on the screen. Within two hours, the film moves from romantic comedy, to gothic horror, to chamber drama, and adds a dash of courtroom procedural at the end of it all. Though many of Hitchcock's films flirt with comedic elements, the first half hour of the film is light as a feather, and its gradual settling into neo-Victorian "threatening house" mode is almost totally vanquished in the final act by a sudden move to an inquest at the police station. Impressive though it is that Hitchcock could so seamlessly stitch all these discordant parts together, I occasionally found it exhausting, as whenever I started getting used to the film it would abruptly change its means of presentation.

    I found Rebecca to be at its most effective as it prowled through the halls of Manderley, perhaps one of the most atmospheric sets Hitchcock has ever made use of. Gargantuan and suffused with shadow, the new Ms. de Winter seems almost devoured by it. It acts as a sort of menacing forebearer for all the troubles that await her - within this mansion lurk secrets, threatening figures, and de Winter's own crushing feelings that she simply can't compete with the woman her husband once had. The sensibilities of its source material, Daphne du Maurier's popular revision of Jane Eyre, are clear, but Hitchcock's own flourishes liven this house-bound chapter in the book considerably. His preoccupation with women in oppressive situations is put to great use, as Ms. de Winter has scarcely an ally amongst the denizens of Manderley. Her new husband is often absent, both physically and emotionally, and she is at odds with the inexplicably frigid Ms. Danvers. Danvers makes no secret of her fondness for Rebecca de Winter, but both Hitchcock and Judith Anderson code her as more than an obsessive maidservant. Beyond merely being frightening, there's a crypto-lesbian element to her reminiscence about Rebecca, right down to her tactile exploration of her old nightwear ("you can see my hand through it!") Rebecca herself, though never seen, feels like the most powerful presence in the house; she looms over the entire movie like a phantom, her influence poisoning every interaction made beneath Manderley's roof. Combined with the dark, oppressive aesthetic Hitchcock creates in the house, it is not a huge stretch to imagine that she is possessing Ms. Danvers and bidding her to do her will, or throwing blinds shut in the east wing while the new Ms. de Winter is watching.

    Compared to the richly explored, daunting Manderley passages, the rest of Rebecca simply doesn't seem as powerful. The opening act, though frothy and fast-paced, lacks the gravity that is eventually heaped upon the viewer. Hitchcock's fondness for keeping his viewers on-guard or disoriented is evident in this drastic shift in tones, but the dry and lengthy third act feels less like a deliberate change in aesthetic and more like a misjudged narrative switch-up. As soon as Maxim and his wife leave the shack by the seaside and end up in the police station, the movie begins to plod, with a surprisingly tension-free "did he or didn't he?" conundrum for everyone (including Maxim himself) to puzzle through. Manderley's burning, though a highly resonant image to close Rebecca out on, might have had still more power if we were allowed more time there.
  • spielberg00
    June 24, 2011
    spielberg00
    The question: Why did this win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1940, and why is it the ONLY Academy Award-winner by Hitchcock?
  • FrizzDrop
    March 11, 2011
    FrizzDrop
    Brooding, dark, a veil of discreet secrecy laced into every scene. These are just some of the ways to describe a story as old as time: Two people fall in love, and are thwarted at every turn by an obstacle. This sinister tale is far more complex, but the basic themes are all ther... read moree. Watching the dainty and naive Joan Fontaine, my heart broke into tiny, crushed, fragments. She doesn't believe someone as dashing as Laurence Olivier's character, Maxim, could fall for her. Not only does he marry her, but whisks her away to a fantastical manor in the middle of nowhere, his wife's presence hanging from the walls, in the air, on the minds of her past servants. It takes quite a long time to build up to a sorrowful confession, and dire circumstances, all for the sake of keeping two people who doubt their own sanity from being together. Deceptively romantic, and ditto a thriller, there is lush cinematography, directing that inspires (as only Hitchcock can), and the producing eye of David O. Selznick is heard loud and clear. A grand collaboration on a story that shocked me to my core, and yet is so innocent for history's sake. Scary, hypnotic, and unknowingly horrific, this is one of Hitchcock's only films that trancends the Hitchcock genre to stand on its own as one of the greatest films of all time.
  • garyX
    February 1, 2011
    garyX
    A bookish young woman enters a whirlwind romance with a debonair aristocrat but finds herself living in the shadow of his previous wife who died under mysterious circumstances. Hitchcock's genius was always in his ability to create believable ambiguity in his characters without r... read moreesorting to clumsy red herrings or cinematic gimmickry, and Rebecca is one of the finest examples. Of course having a leading man of the calibre of Laurence Olivier is never going to hurt, and his haunting portrayal of a man irreversibly damaged by tragic past events is unforgettable. Joan Fontaine is also wonderful and adorable as his unnamed new bride, intimidated by her induction into an unfamiliar social class and confronted by reminders of her predecessor everywhere she looks and let's not forget Rebecca herself, one of the great femme fatales although she never actually appears on screen. Supported by a cast of some of the best English character actors of the time and containing one of the great cinematic curve balls, Rebecca is another consummate exercise in atmosphere and suspense.
  • FilmFanatik
    January 18, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    Although it's one of Hitchcock's early films before he became known as the master of suspense, this is an uneven film. At times tragic and interesting. Other times, just wanting to get it over with. The last 30 minutes of the film are the reason to see it, but it's a shame tha... read moret the first hour and a half couldn't compete.
  • jamers2011
    January 13, 2011
    jamers2011
    Wow! An absolutely fantastic, brilliant piece of classic cinema! I've seen two of Hitchcock's most famous films, Rear Window, and Vertigo, but neither of those spoke to me as much as Rebecca. Rebecca has to be his best. The plot of the film is depressingly eerie, but irresistable... read more all the while. Non-stop intensity from very early on until the last seconds. It was by far more intense than the other Hitchcock classics I have seen.
    Joan Fontaine, as Mrs. de Winter, really is part of why the film is great. Her character deals with so much and she delivers such a realistic performance that the audience falls completely in love with her character. Never have I ever felt so strongly for the happenings of a character. Throughout the depressing story I found myself rooting her on in every scene. I love that about the film! Also Laurence Olivier is good too, as is the creepy Judith Anderson.
    Also, it amazes me how so much menace and turmoil comes from a character who gets no screentime at all. Fantastic!
    Brilliant masterpiece! I'm confident this is one of Hitchcock's absolute best films. It's the only one that received an Academy Award for Best Picture. Do yourself a favor and see this classic film!
  • ajv2688
    September 29, 2010
    ajv2688
    Classic Hitchcock movie, a must see! It's both a thriller and a horror movie, and it's a nice combination. Plus great actors. why not see it?

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Critic Reviews

February 17, 2009
TIME Magazine

This time Hitchcock does it all his way, does a splendid job and has a splendid cast to do it with. Full Review

Variety Staff
February 19, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

One of the finest productional efforts of the past year. Full Review

Dave Kehr
December 12, 2006
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Through 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 ide... Full Review

Frank S. Nugent
May 20, 2003
Frank S. Nugent, New York Times

An altogether brilliant film, haunting, suspenseful, handsome and handsomely played. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 1800
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

The result exhibits that the director is capable of a range few would credit him with. Full Review

Sean Axmaker
February 19, 2012
Sean Axmaker, Parallax View

It's an elegant production, beautifully photographed and designed like a dream house shrouded in mourning, but it also favors the pictorial over the cinematic and surface over subtext. Full Review

Walter Chaw
February 12, 2012
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

Let's take a moment to talk about water. Full Review

Kevin Carr
February 6, 2012
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

a clever mix of fancy drama and suspense Full Review

John J. Puccio
January 30, 2012
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

While the film offers no overt violence or thrills, it is a model of sustained mystery and eerie suspense. Full Review

Matt Brunson
January 25, 2012
Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing

The real show-stopper remains Judith Anderson's formidable turn as Mrs. Danvers. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Maxim de Winter: And I should be making violent love to you behind a palm tree.
    • Maxim de Winter: It's gone forever, that funny young, lost look I loved won't ever come back. I killed that when I told you about Rebecca. It's gone. In a few hours, you've grown so much older.
    • Mrs. de Winter: How do you do?
    • Mrs. Danvers: How do you do.... I have everything in readiness for you.
    • Mrs. de Winter: Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
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