Rebecca (1940) on Netflix
Approved19402h 10mDramaMysteryRomanceThriller
A paid companion to Mrs. Van Hopper meets the widower Maxim de Winter in Monte Carlo and marries him. At his Cornwall estate, the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers adores his first wife, Rebecca.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb8.0/10162,233 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes98%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Monte Carlo, a young woman works as the paid companion of Mrs. Van Hopper, an older woman with social ambitions. At their hotel she meets Maxim de Winter, a wealthy widower whose wife, Rebecca, died the year before. Maxim takes her on excursions while Mrs. Van Hopper is ill, and when the older woman prepares to leave, he proposes. Mrs. Van Hopper tells the bride that Maxim is still tormented by his dead wife. At Manderley, his estate in Cornwall, the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, is devoted to Rebecca and will not accept a second mistress.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Rebecca (1940)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
David O. Selznick wanted the smoke from the burning Manderley to spell out a huge "R", which Alfred Hitchcock thought lacked subtlety. While Selznick was busy with Gone with the Wind, Hitchcock replaced it with the burning of a monogrammed négligée case lying on a bed pillow.- Casting the second Mrs. de Winter was contentious: no fewer than 126 actresses, from major stars to unknowns, were considered for the part. Relative newcomer Joan Fontaine was chosen less than two weeks before principal photography began.
- For Maxim de Winter, David O. Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock first sought Ronald Colman, whom Selznick had under contract. Colman turned the role down, worried the film would be a "woman-starring vehicle" and uneasy about the "murder angle".
SPOILER
Two miniatures of Manderley were built: a large one that occupied most of a stage for close shots, including flames seen through the windows as the house burns, and a half-size one for long shots because the big model could not fit the whole house and grounds in frame.SPOILER
Censor Joseph Breen demanded that either Maxim de Winter be punished for his crime or that Rebecca's death be rewritten as an accident. The accidental version was adopted, a solution Hitchcock had first proposed at a meeting with Breen and his assistant at the Victor Hugo Restaurant.- Breen insisted the final cut carry "no suggestion whatever of a perverted relationship between Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca". Judith Anderson later denied intentionally playing the housekeeper as a lesbian, saying that they "never thought of such things at that time".
- Rebecca took eleven Academy Award nominations, more than any other film that year, and won Best Picture and Best Cinematography. It remains the only film directed by Alfred Hitchcock to win Best Picture.
- Edwina Levin MacDonald sued Selznick, Daphne du Maurier, United Artists and Doubleday for plagiarism, claiming Rebecca was stolen from her novel Blind Windows, and sought accounting and damages. The complaint was dismissed on January 14, 1948.
