365 High-Def Days of Oscar: Day 173
Release Year: 1940
Oscar Wins:
Best Picture
Best Cinematography (Black & White)
Oscar Nominations:
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actress
Best Editing
Best Art Direction (Black & White)
Best Original Score
Best Original Screenplay
Best Visual Effects
THE PLOT THUS FAR
When a naive young woman marries a rich widower and settles in his gigantic mansion, she finds the memory of the first wife maintaining a grip on her husband and the servants.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“Rebecca” was the first of the director’s American-made films, and it shows. It’s quite different from his earlier British-made films, such as “Young and Innocent” and even “The Lady Vanishes,” which somehow seem more amateurish by comparison. I would even judge “Rebecca” the best of his films of the early 1940s, with the possible exception of “Shadow of a Doubt.” It is true, of course, that much of this film has become cliché, but it still weathers the decades very well. The acting is uniformly excellent. Olivier is the hardened Maxim de Winter, untitled lord of Manderly, trying to forget the past and given to unexpected bouts of anger and coldheartedness. Fontaine is perfect as the unnamed mousy heroine, innocent yet deeply in love, still carrying with her the aura of an awkward schoolgirl.
But it is Judith Anderson’s role as Mrs. Danvers that viewers are likely to remember best. Her presence is as dark and foreboding as that of the deceased Rebecca herself, and Fontaine is evidently cowed by her icy stare and unnervingly formal manner. The dynamics between the two actresses are wonderful. Who could fail to empathize with Fontaine’s unenviable position as, in effect, the new employer of such an intimidating personage? On the other hand, Olivier seems quite unfearful of Anderson, despite her representing so much of the past he is trying to block out. This part of the plot never made much sense to me and is unconvincing. Mrs. Danvers finally reveals the depth of her hatred by suggesting a costume for Mrs. de Winter to wear at a party that was originally worn by Rebecca. After Maxim’s expected negative reaction, Mrs. Danvers urges her, in arguably the most memorable scene in the movie, to commit suicide by throwing herself from the window. Mrs. de Winter is saved, though, by the wreck of a boat near Manderly and the noise of the rescue that is undertaken.
During the course of the rescue, another boat is found: the one in which Rebecca died. Having discovered Rebecca’s corpse inside, it is announced that an inquest must take place to investigate her death. When his wife tries to comfort Maxim, he reveals to her the truth behind his relationship with Rebecca: that he hated her, and was trapped by her into a sham of a marriage. He also tells her of how Rebecca died; that he had killed her in a rage and sunk the boat with her body inside. After this revelation, a change comes over the new Mrs. de Winter: she grows up, and is visibly more self-assured. She and Maxim, to a certain extent, reverse roles, in that he loses hope and she must comfort him and reassure him that all will be well, when in fact all seems hopeless.
The Blu-Ray comes with commentaries, featurettes, original radio plays and trailers ported over from the past MGM and Criterion DVD releases. The 50 gig disc gives a lot of room for the high bitrate encode and DTS-HD master audio track that saves the mono mix. The biggest special feature has to be the isolated score track that lets you hear Franz Waxman’s classic score in HD audio. I’m just enjoying that MGM is taking care of its prestige titles and giving them the materials that they’ve compiled over the last few years. Nothing’s worse than when classic titles go ignored and I’m glad that this disc bucks the trend. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
