Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel is brought to the silver screen by virtue of Alfred Hitchcock, Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. A dream combination but can they deliver?
We follow gloomy aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter (Lawrence Olivier) as he chills out on the French Riviera. Being wealthy he doesn't need a job so he just seems to spend his time maudlin about the place and reading newspapers. His antithesis is the beautiful Joan Fontaine who is young, innocent and full of hope. A whirlwind romance and marriage soon follows. We are then back to the real world at Maxim's mansion in Cornwall. A fascinating dynamic then plays out between Maxim, his new wife, the enduring presence of his deceased wife and his scary housekeeper Mrs Danvers.
Dig deeper and all is not as it seems. Dark secrets await to be uncovered. It is as gripping as it is brilliantly acted and it is truly deserving of Hitchcock's only ever Best Picture award. It is flawless, masterful and the best in this sequence so far by some margin. Olivier and Fontaine have a magical screen quality that is hard to find in any film in any era.
Reflections on the human condition:
Everybody has a secret - somewhere.
Rating 10/10
Oscar Best Picture Rankings:
1. Rebecca (1940)
2. Gone With the Wind (1939)
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
4. Wings (1928)
5. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
6. You can’t take it with you (1938)
7. Cimarron (1931)
8. Grand Hotel (1932)
9. It Happened One Night (1934)
10. Cavalcade (1933)
11. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
12. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
13. The Broadway Melody (1929)
Rebecca, tremendous film full of acting greatness.