Rebecca (1940) Queer Film. Hitchcock. A+

Joan Fontaine

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by: David O. Selznick
Screenplay: Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison.
Adaptation: Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan.
Cinematography: George Barnes
Edited by: W. Donn Hayes
Original Score: Franz Waxman

Studio: Selznick International

Distributed by: United Artists
Starring: Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson, George Sanders, Reginald Denny, Gladys Cooper, Florence Bates and C. Aubrey Smith.
While working as a paid companion to the formidable Mrs. Van Hopper(Florence Bates) in Monte Carlo, a shy young woman(Joan Fontaine) meets the aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier). After a whirlwind courtship, he proposes, and the two marry before returning to his ancestral estate, Manderley. There, the new Mrs. de Winter finds herself overshadowed by the memory of Maxim’s first wife, Rebecca, whose death remains shrouded in mystery. Presiding over the house is Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), the glacial, obsessive housekeeper who worships Rebecca’s memory and undermines her successor at every turn.
Rebecca marked the Hollywood arrival—courtesy of Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick—of the man who was, or would soon become, the greatest director in the history of cinema. Hitchcock’s touch is everywhere: the psychological unease, the shifting power dynamics, the sense of a heroine swallowed by a house that remembers more than it reveals.

Fontaine gives a superb performance, proving she shared the same deep well of talent as her sister, Olivia de Havilland. The supporting cast is equally rich: George Sanders as the insinuating Jack Favell, Rebecca’s cousin, Reginald Denny as Frank Crawley, Maxim’s estate manager and Gladys Cooper as Maxim’s sister.

Hitchcock’s cameo: 2:06:57 He is the man in a bowler hat and trenchcoat who crosses paths with George Sanders.

STREAMING: YouTube

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