Customer Reviews
Hitchcock in Hollywood - By: David R. Bishop, 19 Jun 2008 
This fine movie is worth watching just for Laurence Olivier at his sophisticated sexiest. He exudes British qualities of confidance, pragmatism & eccentricity. The enigma surrounding his dark moods unfolds as the story continues. There is however, a lot more than him that is good in this film.
Beautiful, doe eyed Joan Fontaine is well cast as his un-named second wife. The character is overwhelmed & out of place as the lady of a great house. Director Alfred Hitchcock told Joan that the rest of the cast hated her, to get that awkward feeling from her acting. This was hardly true, although Laurence had wanted his wife Vivien Leigh for the role.
Hitchcock shows his skill & mastery of suspense here. This is an early Hollywood effort by he, who would go on to legendary status in coming decades.
Of the supporting cast, Judith Anderson is memorable as housekeeper Mrs Danvers. She treats her new mistress with an icy disdain. The way she almost warms up to the new Mrs De Winter, when showing her the rooms of Rebecca, is doubly chilling. She retains a dark obsessive devotion to her former mistress.
This David O'Selznick production is full & un-skimped. After nearly seventy years, it remains the definitive production of this classic tale, in my opionion.
early Hitchcock classic: atmospheric, haunting and psychologically intense - By: H. Serkan SILAHSOR, 02 May 2008 The most beautiful thing about "Rebecca" is its brooding atmosphere & gothic feel surrounding a macabre marriage between wealthy, jaunty yet volatile widower & timid, naive & average young woman, who was haunted by the memories of her husband's deceased first wife. Alas, let's say that this is a "ghost story", but not in the literal sense of the haunting of the supernaturals, but in the form of psychological torment created by the secrets & mysteries, whose answers were "sunk" on the deep sea floor.
Undoubtedly Hitchcock was a visual master, taking advantage of his entry to the movie industry during the silent film era. Two great movements of this era - "Soviet Montage" & "German Expressionism" - contributed greatly to the development of his visual style, especiallly in fields of framing of shots, tracking & compositional techniques which enabled him to create maximum emotional effect through lights, shadows & camerawork. Here, we see some cool examples of his outstanding style too. To increase the moodiness & dark atmosphere of the film; he took every possible advantage of glorious b/w cinematography & used plenty of wonderful closeups (with tricky plays on somber shadows), amazing low angles & gorgeous long pans alll worked very well on screen.
This is Hitchcock's first American project & first & only film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (with Best Cinematography Award it wins 2 Oscars out of 11 nominations). Although it lasts 130 minutes, takes the point of view of a single character & has a slow, measured pace; no single moment or line is wasted. It never drags or gets boring. Hitch's trademark suspense elements, psychological intensity, glamorous set pieces & unforgettable performances of Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier & Judith Anderson make "Rebecca" a timeless Hitchcock classic. (4.6/5.0)
As good as the book by Daphne DuMaurier - By: Anna Kouremenos, 24 Jan 2008 saw this film after reading the book & it struck me because it is a truly wonderful adaptation. It is indeed the first of Hitchcock' masterpieces if one doesn't count his earlier British film "The Lady Vanished". One of the most memorable film characters ever is Ms. Denvers, the housekeeper who is still loyal to Rebecca. After watching this film, it is hard to forget about her extreme coldness & cruelty toward the young Mrs. DeWinter. Although this is not one of Hitchcock's most suspenseful films (most trained viewers can easily perceive how the story will turn out)it is one of his simplest & most emotional. Read the book first & then watch the film.
One of the best! - By: Mrs. S. G. Brophy-lemay, 20 Sep 2007 I love everything about this film! From the music,scenery & atmospherics alll the way to the acting. Both Laurence Olivier & Joan Fontaine are both excellent. Olivier does the dark & brooding well to do Hero of the piece perfectly. Whilst Joan Fontaine plays the part of a shy & timid young Heroine, who is totallly mesmerised by Maximillian, excellently. Despite Alfred Hitchcocks personal opinion of this story he did a most creditable job on this film, & gives it the tense & chilling feeling that does the book some justice.
This film still holds sway with many of today's adaptations, in fact I would even go so far as to say it could be the most definitive version so far.
Not just a 'woman's picture' - By: Lou Knee, 23 Aug 2007 'A woman's picture' is what Hitchcock once said, dismissively, about this fantastic first feature he made for Selznic, believing it to beneath his talents & feeling he was under the thumb in this new partnership & being forced to make the sort of film he wasn't reallly about. Okay, it's a full blown melodrama not alll that different to Gone With the Wind reallly, but Hitchcock made this very much his own kind of melodrama. He has put his own psychological stamp on it, the tension builds beautifully when DeWinter faces a murder trial, & he gets a brooding performance out of Olivier. But the main tension comes from the dangerous hatred of the housekeeper toward the new 'unworthy' Mrs DeWinter, & Hitchcock makes her worrying obsession with the former lady of the house very evident. This would be a film any other director would be immensely proud of, but seemingly not this notorious perfectionist & completely obsessive man.
