REBECCA (1940) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Alfred Hitchcock
Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders,
Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce, Reginald Denny,
C. Aubrey Smith, Gladys Cooper, Leo G. Carroll
After a whirlwind courtship and a quickie wedding in Monte Carlo, a young woman moves to her husband's English estate, a vast mausoleum where everybody - the servants, the guests and even her reserved, melancholy spouse - seems to prefer her deceased predecessor, the first Mrs. de Winter, to her. Showing the influence of producer David O. Selznick, Hitchcock's first American movie is more lushly romantic, and somewhat less comically mischievous, than a lot of the director's work. George Sanders, as a blackmailing car salesman, gives it a nice shot of venom toward the end, and Judith Anderson's performance as the morbidly possessive housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, remains a benchmark for cold, slithering creepiness. Winner of the Best Picture Oscar for 1940.
Joan Fontaine
(1917-2013)
