Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock's first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.
The film stars Laurence Olivier as the brooding, aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as the young, never-named woman who becomes his second wife, with Judith Anderson, George Sanders and Gladys Cooper in supporting roles. The film is a gothic tale shot in black-and-white. Maxim de Winter's first wife Rebecca, who died before the events of the film, is never seen. Her reputation and recollections of her, however, are a constant presence in the lives of Maxim, his new wife and the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.
Rebecca was theatrically released on April 12, 1940, to critical and commercial success. It received eleven nominations at the 13th Academy Awards, more than any other film that year. It won two awards: Best Picture and Best Cinematography, becoming the only film directed by Hitchcock to win the former award. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
On the French Riviera, Maxim de Winter stands at a cliff edge, seemingly contemplating suicide. A young woman shouts at him to stop him in his tracks, but he curtly asks her to walk on.
Later, at a Monte Carlo hotel, the same young woman, serving as a paid companion to the pompous, elderly Mrs. Van Hopper, again encounters the debonair widower de Winter. Aspiring to social prominence, Mrs. Van Hopper is obsequious to the aristocratic de Winter, but is soon confined to her room due to illness. Maxim invites the companion on excursions, which she conceals from her employer. The young woman soon becomes infatuated, though puzzled by Maxim's attention. Upon her recovery, Mrs. Van Hopper decides to leave Monte Carlo; her companion furtively informs Maxim of her departure, and he unexpectedly proposes marriage. After being informed of the proposal by Maxim, a shocked Mrs. Van Hopper privately tells her companion that Maxim is marrying her as a desperate distraction, because he is still tormented by thoughts of his beloved dead wife, Rebecca. She asserts that her companion is ill-prepared to be the second Mrs. de Winter and cannot hope to succeed as the mistress of the stately Manderley.
Maxim brings his new bride back to Manderley, his grand mansion by the sea in Cornwall. Manderley is dominated by its austere housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, a cold and unyielding woman, a confidante of the first Mrs. de Winter. Danvers harbors deep resentment for the new Mrs. de Winter, whom she views as a usurper. Danvers feeds the bride's insecurity by showing her Rebecca's lavish bedroom suite, left untouched and denied to the new wife, and by retaining items throughout the house with Rebecca's monogram.
Eventually, constant reminders of Rebecca's glamour and sophistication convince the new Mrs. de Winter that Maxim is still in love with his tragically drowned first wife, which could explain his restlessness and irrational outbursts of anger. She tries to assert her new role by holding a costume party as Maxim and Rebecca had done annually. Danvers suggests she copy the dress that one of Maxim's ancestors is seen wearing in a portrait. However, when she appears in the costume, Maxim is appalled as Rebecca had worn an identical dress at her last ball, just before her death.
When Mrs. de Winter confronts Danvers about this, Danvers tells her she can never take Rebecca's place and tries to persuade her to jump to her death from the second-story window of Rebecca's room. At that moment, however, the alarm is raised because a ship has run aground due to the fog and, during the rescue of its crew, a sunken boat with Rebecca's body in it has been discovered.
Maxim now confesses to his new wife that his first marriage had been a sham from the start. Rebecca had declared that she had no intention of keeping to her vows but would pretend to be the perfect wife and hostess for the sake of appearances. When Rebecca implied she was pregnant by her cousin and lover, Jack Favell, she taunted Maxim that the estate might pass to someone other than Maxim's line. During a heated argument, Rebecca fell, struck her head, and died. Afraid he would be blamed for her death, Maxim took the body out in a boat which he then scuttled; some days later, he identified another body that washed ashore as Rebecca's.
The crisis causes the second Mrs. de Winter to shed her naïve ways. When the inquest considers the possibility of suicide, Favell attempts to blackmail Maxim, threatening to reveal a letter from Rebecca hinting at a pregnancy that made suicide improbable. When Maxim informs the police of the attempted blackmail, they must investigate Favell's accusations that Maxim murdered Rebecca. Further investigation with a doctor, however, reveals that Rebecca was not pregnant but terminally ill due to cancer, so the suicide verdict stands. Maxim realizes Rebecca had been trying to goad him into killing her to ruin him.
His innocence validated, Maxim returns home to see Manderley on fire, set ablaze by the deranged Mrs. Danvers. The second Mrs. de Winter and all the staff escape save for Danvers, who is seen through the windows in Rebecca's bedroom; she dies as the ceiling collapses on her.
Cast
Hitchcock's cameo appearance, a signature feature of his films, takes place near the end; he is seen walking, back turned to the audience, outside a phone box just after Jack Favell completes a call.
Preproduction In 1938, Hitchcock read the galley proofs of Rebecca whilst filming Jamaica Inn, an adaptation of another Daphne du Maurier novel. Hitchcock considered independently purchasing the film rights, but was unable to match the high amounts offered by major studios. The high projected sales figures for the novel made Rebecca a highly desirable property, and the rights ultimately went to Selznick International for $50,000 - the same price Selznick had paid for Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. Selznick officially assigned Hitchcock to direct the adaptation in September 1938.
Hitchcock and David O. Selznick clashed over the adaptation of Rebecca, with Selznick favouring fidelity to the novel while Hitchcock wished to make changes, particularly hoping to add some dynamism to the character of the second Mrs. de Winter.
Selznick first offered the job of writing the screenplay to Daphne du Maurier, but she declined. Selznick unsuccessfully pitched a number of writers to Hitchcock to script Rebecca including Clemence Dane, John Balderston, Ben Hecht, and Hugh Walpole. By November 1938, Selznick eventually agreed to pay Hitchcock $5,000 to write an initial outline. Hitchcock worked with his wife, Alma Hitchcock, assistant Joan Harrison, and British writer Michael Hogan to produce a 45-page double-spaced "storyline" which he submitted to Selznick on 3 June 1939. Selznick responded with a lengthy memo, describing himself as "shocked beyond words" and criticizing the ways in which the treatment diverged from the source material. Of the unnamed protagonist, Selznick wrote:
Every little thing that the girl does in the book, her reactions of running away from the guests, and the tiny things that indicate her nervousness and her self-consciousness and her gaucherie are all so brilliant in the book that every woman who has read it has adored the girl and has understood her psychology... We have removed all the subtleties and substituted big broad strokes.
In response to Selznick's notes, Hitchcock, with Joan Harrison and Scottish writer Philip MacDonald, began work on a new treatment which hewed closer to du Maurier's novel. A first script was completed on 29 July 1939. In the final weeks before shooting was to begin, Selznick hired Robert E. Sherwood to make some final revisions to the script and rework the story's climax, paying him $15,000. A final shooting script was dated September 7. Charles Bennett, who was in close contact with Hitchcock and Selznick at the time they were working on Rebecca, stated that the final script was "ninety percent the work of Michael Hogan, although some rewrites were done by Joan. Very little, at the end, was contributed by the one who is most famous and therefore most credited, Sherwood".
Although Selznick insisted that the film be faithful to the novel, Hitchcock did make some other changes, though not as many as he had made in a previously rejected screenplay, in which he altered virtually the entire story. In the novel, Mrs. Danvers is something of a jealous mother figure, and her past is mentioned in the book. In the film, Mrs. Danvers is a much younger character (Judith Anderson would have been about 42 at the time of shooting), and her past is not revealed at all. The only thing known about her in the film is that she came to Manderley when Rebecca was a bride.
Casting The process of casting Rebecca occurred in parallel with the development of the screenplay over the course of several months leading up to the beginning of shooting in September 1939.
For the role of Maxim de Winter, Selznick and Hitchcock originally sought Ronald Colman, whom Selznick had under contract. Colman declined the role over concerns that the film would be a "woman-starring vehicle" and over the "murder angle". Selznick subsequently pitched actors Melvyn Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Howard, and William Powell, before he and Hitchcock ultimately settled on English actor Laurence Olivier.
The casting of the second Mrs. de Winter was contentious and no fewer than 126 actresses, ranging from major stars to unknowns, were considered for the role. Relative newcomer Joan Fontaine was ultimately selected less than two weeks before the start of principal photography. Selznick initially argued for English actress Nova Pilbeam, having been impressed by her performance in Hitchcock's Young and Innocent (1937). Hitchcock rejected her, arguing that while she was "correct casting according [to the] book", she was not appropriate for his vision of the character. Laurence Olivier unsuccessfully advocated for the role to go to his lover (and later wife) Vivien Leigh. Among the actresses Hitchcock tested for the role were Lucile Fairbanks, Marjorie Reynolds, and Jean Muir. By August 19, the list of finalists for the role had been narrowed to Margaret Sullavan, Anne Baxter, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine. Selznick ultimately offered the role to Fontaine, announcing her casting on 5 September 1939, just three days before filming was to begin.
Australian stage actress Judith Anderson was cast in the role of Mrs. Danvers at the suggestion of Kay Brown of Selznick International. As a condition of auditioning, Anderson insisted that Hitchcock personally direct her screen test. Other actresses who had been considered for the role included Flora Robson, Elsa Lanchester, and Alla Nazimova.
Lucile Watson, Laura Hope Crews, Mary Boland, Alice Brady, Virginia Brissac and Cora Witherspoon were considered for the minor role of Mrs. van Hopper, the protagonist's social-climbing employer in the beginning of the story. Hitchcock ultimately selected Florence Bates for the role after seeing her in a theatrical production at the Pasadena Playhouse. Bates, a lawyer by training who had only appeared on camera once before, required an unusually large number of retakes for some of her scenes. Selznick was displeased with her line readings, stating "I think there is no line which she could not improve on".
Censorship