My Cousin Rachel (1952) on Netflix
NR19521h 38mDramaMysteryRomance
Philip Ashley vows revenge on Rachel, certain she murdered his older cousin Ambrose. When she arrives at the Cornwall estate, her charm makes him doubt the accusation.
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- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.1/103,858 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes60%
Trailer
Plot summary
Philip Ashley grows up on his older cousin Ambrose's estate in Cornwall. When Ambrose's health fails, he moves to Florence and marries Rachel. Back in Cornwall, Philip receives alarming letters from Ambrose, and after Ambrose dies of a brain tumor, Philip believes Rachel killed him and swears revenge. When Rachel arrives in Cornwall, Philip asks her to the house. She seems beautiful, ladylike and kind, nothing like the woman he pictured. He shows her Ambrose's letters and burns them in the fireplace as a sign of trust. He also tells his executor to give Rachel a generous allowance, and she remains at the estate despite gossip.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about My Cousin Rachel (1952)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Daphne du Maurier wanted Greta Garbo or Vivien Leigh to play Rachel, though she had no say in casting. Garbo, off screen since Two-Faced Woman in 1941, was tempted but feared she would look old to moviegoers and tarnish the memory of her beauty.
- Director George Cukor left My Cousin Rachel in late May 1952 after he and Daphne du Maurier found a screenplay draft unfaithful to her novel; he objected to added comedy and could not get the revisions he wanted. Fox called it "artistic differences."
- Before agreeing to star, Richard Burton asked for a fee of £7,000, about $18,000 at the time, and was surprised when Twentieth Century-Fox instead offered him $50,000.
- Richard Burton was disappointed by Olivia de Havilland's behavior on set: she asked director Henry Koster to tell everyone to address her as Miss de Havilland rather than the informal Livvie, which her earlier co-workers had used.
- Olivia de Havilland's turn as Rachel was her first screen appearance since The Heiress in 1949, and the same film gave Richard Burton his first starring role in an American movie.
