Rebecca
With Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson.
US, 1940, 35mm, black & white, 130 min.
Print source: Disney
Hitchcock's debut American film and his first working under his troubled and conflict ridden contract for the ambitious and mercenary independent producer David O. Selznick was a faithful yet subversive adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's best-selling, now beloved, Gothic fable of unrequited, obsessive love. In the inspired casting of coltish Joan Fontaine as Rebecca’s unnamed heroine, Hitchcock found a perfect foil to the indelible, imposing caricature of dark menace played by Judith Anderson's jealous, twisted Mrs. Danvers and the even more imposing character of Manderley, the overwrought labyrinthine mansion brought to life by the restlessly gliding camera. A deeply influential film, Rebecca inspired the wave of dark Gothic romances with haunted mansions – and uncanny portraits – that remained popular in Hollywood throughout the Forties.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Vertigo
To Catch a Thief
The Trouble with Harry
The Paradine Case
Stage Fright
Rebecca
Notorious
Rear Window
Dial M for Murder
Lifeboat
Saboteur
Murder!
Family Plot
Under Capricorn
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Spellbound
Strangers on a Train
Torn Curtain
Suspicion
Shadow of a Doubt
