Our Site’s 20th Anniversary–Most Widely Read Essays
Rebecca, a romantic psychological thriller, was Hitchcock’s first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick.
The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.
The film stars Laurence Olivier as the brooding, aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as the young woman who becomes his second wife, with Judith Anderson, George Sanders and Gladys Cooper in supporting roles.
Narrative Premise:
The film is a gothic tale shot in black-and-white. Maxim de Winter’s first wife Rebecca, who died before the events of the film, is never seen.
Her reputation and recollections of her, however, are a constant presence in the lives of Maxim, his new wife and the creepy housekeeper Mrs. Danvers.
Detailed Plot:
Opening Scene: Maxim de Winter (Olivier) stands at a cliff edge, seemingly contemplating jumping. A young woman (Fontaine) shouts at him to stop him in his tracks, but he curtly asks her to walk on.
At Monte Carlo on the French Riviera, the same young woman is staying with her pompous old traveling companion, Mrs. Van Hopper.
In Monte Carlo, Max de Winter stops to speak to Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper (Florence Bates) only after recognizing her companion, the girl he had encountered earlier.
She again encounters him, looking much more debonair. They are attracted to each other, and although Van Hopper tells her he is still obsessed with his dead wife, Rebecca, seemingly told drowned in the sea near Manderley.
She soon becomes the second Mrs. de Winter. Maxim takes his new bride back to Manderley, his grand mansion by the sea in southwestern England.
The place is dominated by its housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, a chilly individual who had been a confidante of the first Mrs. de Winter, whose death she has not forgotten. She has preserved Rebecca’s grand bedroom suite unchanged, and she enjoys displaying various items that carry her monogram.
Constant reminders of Rebecca’s glamour and sophistication convince the new Mrs. de Winter that Maxim is still in love with his first wife, which explain his irrational outbursts of anger.
She tries to please her husband by holding a costume party as he and Rebecca used to. The malicious Danvers suggests she copy the dress that one of Maxim’s ancestors is seen wearing in a portrait. However, when she appears in costume, Maxim is appalled as Rebecca had worn an identical dress at her last ball, just before her death.
When Mrs. de Winter confronts Danvers, she tells her she can never take Rebecca’s place and tries to persuade her to jump to her death from the second-story window of Rebecca’s room.
Things change when the alarm is raised as a ship has run aground due to the fog, and in the rescue, a sunken boat has been discovered with Rebecca’s body in it.
Maxim now confesses to his new wife that his first marriage had been a sham. Rebecca had declared that she had no intention of keeping to her vows but would pretend to be the perfect wife for the sake of appearances.
During a heated argument, she fell, struck her head, and died. To conceal the truth, Maxim took the body out in a boat which he then scuttled, and identified another body as Rebecca’s.
The crisis causes the second Mrs. de Winter to shed her naïve ways as the couple plan to prove Maxim’s innocence.
When the police claim the possibility of suicide, Favell attempts to blackmail Maxim, threatening to reveal that she had never been suicidal. The police suspect him of murder.
However, further investigation with a doctor reveals that she was not pregnant but terminally ill due to cancer, so the suicide verdict stands. Maxim realizes Rebecca had been trying to goad him into killing her to ruin him.
Now a free man, Maxim returns home to see Manderley on fire, set ablaze by the deranged Mrs. Danvers.
In the end, all escape except Danvers, who dies when the ceiling collapses on her.
Made on a budget of $1.3 million, Rebecca was very popular, $earning 6 million at the box-office.
Cast
Joan Fontaine as the second Mrs. de Winter
Laurence Olivier as George Fortescue Maximilian “Maxim” de Winter, owner of Manderley
Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers, housekeeper of Manderley
George Sanders as Jack Favell, Rebecca’s first cousin and lover
Reginald Denny as Frank Crawley, Maxim’s estate manager of Manderley and friend
Gladys Cooper as Beatrice Lacy, Maxim’s sister
C. Aubrey Smith as Colonel Julyan
Nigel Bruce as Major Giles Lacy, Beatrice’s husband
Florence Bates as Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper, employer of the second Mrs. de Winter
Edward Fielding as Frith, oldest butler of Manderley
Melville Cooper as Coroner at trial
Leo G. Carroll as Dr. Baker, Rebecca’s doctor
Leonard Carey as Ben, the beach hermit at Manderley
Lumsden Hare as Mr. Tabbs, boat builder
Forrester Harvey as Chalcroft the innkeeper
Philip Winter as Robert, a servant at Manderley
Credits:
Director – Alfred Hitchcock
Producer – David O. Selznick
Screenplay – Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison
Cinematography – George Barnes
Art direction – Lyle R. Wheeler (art direction), Joseph B. Platt (interiors designed), Howard Bristol (interior decoration)
Music – Franz Waxman (music), Lou Forbes (music associate)
Special effects – Jack Cosgrove
Film editor – Hal C. Kern (supervising film editor), James E. Newcom (associated film editor)
Scenario assistant – Barbara Keon
Sound – Jack Noyes (recorder)
Assistant director – Edmond Bernoudy
Budget: $1.3 million
box-office: $6 million
