Film review: Rebecca (1940) directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

For today's blog post I am reviewing the 1940 film version of Daphne du Maurier's classic tale Rebecca (1938) which I reviewed and published just recently as my previous post. This black and white film sees Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as the new Mrs de Winter. I liked Joan Fontaine's Mrs de Winter because she had a certain innocence to her. Where she had sweetness, Laurence Oliver's Max had bitterness and they complimented each other well. This for me was good as the characters were replicated well in the film.

Another character who stood out by their strong portrayal was that of Judith Anderson's Mrs Danvers. Throughout the film we often saw her as opposed to hearing her. Her character was spectral, and that is something I noticed in the book. I found it chilling whenever the new Mrs de Winter would be in the house and suddenly Mrs Danvers was just there, as if she just appeared out of nowhere. This along with her clear resentment towards Max's new wife made me like to dislike her. If a character is meant to be unlikable and you do not find that then the character is not a good character portrayed well. I see Mrs Danvers as someone not to like. This might have something to do with the second Mrs de Winter's sweetness.

Apart from the characters of the film, the scenery of the film was very reminiscent of the novel and it helped create this tragic world of Manderley. Factor in the other characters you had and the trueness to the plot makes this a brilliant film to watch. I am going to give this film a 9.5/10.


Until next time,


Thomas.

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