Rebecca The 1940 Movie

This movie is a romantic mystery and filled with intrigue, mystery and suspense that cleverly builds to a great climatic ending. The movie plot is about a young innocent woman who weds a wealthy widower and goes to live in his palatial Cornish estate. Her good fortune turns nightmarish, however, when she finds herself haunted by everyone's memory of her husband's first wife, Rebecca. It was after watching this movie several times that I realized how Alfred Hitchcock worked his genius in such a subtle way. The movie never reveals any painting or photograph of Rebecca, but instead Hitchcock lets you--the audience imagine the magnificent beauty of this woman just by the way several characters in the movie describe their memory of her--her exotic beauty, long dark flowing hair, her amazing accomplishments and vital personality. And then in contrast, Hitchcock casts a light of demureness on the young innocent wife by cleverly and very intentionally omitting the young new wife's first name, as she is only addressed as Mrs. De Winter - it was pure genius. Starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and George Sanders. REBECCA is one of the richest and most romantic movies ever directed by Hitchcock and was his first American-made film. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two, including Best Picture. 132 Minutes. B/W 1940.

Rebecca is an Academy Award-winning 1940 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project. Its screenplay was an adaptation by Joan Harrison and Robert E. Sherwood from Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan's adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel of the same name, and was produced by David O. Selznick.. It stars Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as his late wife's housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.

The film is a gothic tale about the lingering memory of the title character, which still affects Maxim, his new bride, and Mrs. Danvers long after her death.

Rebecca is a novel by British author Daphne du Maurier. When Rebecca was first published in 1938, du Maurier became - to her great surprise - one of the most popular authors of the day. Rebecca is considered to be one of her best works. It was partially inspired by Jane Eyre. Much of the novel was written while she was staying in Alexandria, Egypt where her husband was posted at the time.

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Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (August 13 1899 - April 29 1980) was an iconic and highly influential British filmmaker and producer, who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres.

After a very substantial career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and, in 1956, became an American citizen, also retaining his British citizenship.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films, in a career spanning six decades, from the silent era, through the invention of sound films, and far into the colour era. For a complete list of his films, see "Alfred Hitchcock filmography".

As a director, he was among the most consistently recognizable by the general public, and was one of the most successful of his lifetime. He continues to be one of the best-known and most popular filmmakers of all time.

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Joan Fontaine (born October 22, 1917) is an Academy Award-winning British actress. She became an American citizen in April 1943. She was born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland in Tokyo, Japan, the younger daughter of Walter de Havilland, and the former Lilian Augusta Ruse, a British actress known by her stage name of Lilian Fontaine, who married in 1914, and divorced when Joan was two. Walter was a British patent attorney with a practice in Japan. She is the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland, from whom she has been estranged since 1975; both attended Los Gatos High School and the Notre Dame Convent Roman Catholic girls school in Belmont, California.

Joan was a sickly child who developed anemia following a combined attack of the measles and a streptococcic infection. Upon the advice of a physician, Joan's mother moved her and her sister to the United States where they settled in the town of Saratoga, California.

Joan's health improved dramatically and she was soon taking diction lessons along with her sister. She was also an extremely bright child and scored 160 on an intelligence test when she was three. When she was fifteen, Joan returned to Japan and lived with her father for two years.

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Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (; 22 May 1907 - 11 July 1989) was an English actor, director, and producer and the recipient of scores of awards. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson.Hodgdon, Barbara. Shakespeare Quarterly, "From the Editor", Fall, 2002 Olivier played a wide variety of roles on stage and screen from Greek tragedy, Shakespeare and Restoration comedy to modern American and British drama. He was the first artistic director of the National Theatre of Great Britain and its main stage is named in his honour. He is generally regarded to be the greatest actor of the 20th century, in the same category as David Garrick, Richard Burbage, Edmund Kean and Henry Irving in their own centuries.Walker, Andrew. BBC News, 22 May 2007 Olivier's Academy acknowledgments are considerable-fourteen Oscar nominations, with two wins for Best Actor and Best Picture for the 1948 film Hamlet, and two honorary awards including a statuette and certificate. He was also awarded five Emmy awards from the nine nominations he received. Additionally, he was a three-time Golden Globe and BAFTA winner.

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Dame Judith Anderson, (10 February 1897 - 3 January 1992) was an Australian Tony award- and Emmy-winning actress of stage and screen, who was also nominated for a Grammy and an Oscar. She is generally regarded by theater critics as the greatest classical actress produced by Australia.
Anderson was born Frances Margaret Anderson-Anderson in Adelaide, South Australia to Jessie Margaret and James Anderson-Anderson. She attended Norwood High School, and began acting in Australia before moving to New York in 1918. She established herself as a dramatic actress of note making several appearances in the plays of William Shakespeare.

Anderson made her professional debut as Francee Anderson in 1915 at the age of 17. She played the role of Stephanie at the Theater Royal, Sydney, in A Royal Divorce. Leading the company was the very popular English actor, Julius Knight whom Anderson later credited with laying the foundations of her acting skills. In the company were some American actors who influenced Francee to try her luck in America.

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Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE (13 May, 1907-19 April, 1989) () was a famous British author of plays, novels and short stories. Many of her works were adapted into films, such as one of her most famous books, Rebecca, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1940 for director Alfred Hitchcock, who would later bring her short story, The Birds, onto the big screen.

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Alfred Hitchcock Collage