A gothic romantic mystery in much the same spirit and flavor as Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (and why shouldn’t it be since the original source material was written by the same author Daphne du Maurier), Henry Koster’s My Cousin Rachel may not quite capture the same eerie spell and brooding melancholy as that 1940 Oscar-winner, but it certainly comes a close second. Marvelously atmospheric and wonderfully enigmatic, My Cousin Rachel is a glorious romantic wallow with beautiful people posing all sorts of inscrutable questions for the audience to wrestle with.
My Cousin Rachel
Directed by Henry Koster
Studio: Twilight Time (Fox)
Year: 1952
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English
Subtitles: none
MSRP: $ 19.98
Release Date: September 12, 2011
Review Date: September 6, 2011
The Film
4/5
When his beloved cousin (John Sutton) journeys to Florence for his health and marries quite suddenly, Philip Ashley (Richard Burton) is quite surprised, especially when he begins receiving desperate letters from his cousin suggesting his new wife is poisoning him. Racing to Italy, he’s three weeks too late to save his cousin, but he’s surprised to learn that his cousin’s will left him and not his new wife the entire estate worth millions. Returning to England, he’s further surprised when Rachel Sangalletti Ashley (Olivia de Havilland) comes calling. He expects she’s there to claim a share of the estate, but he’s shocked when she makes no mention of it and, indeed, seems the soul of agreeability and gentility. As Philip falls deeper and deeper in love with her, he begins to lavish gifts on Rachel eventually bestowing the entire estate upon her when he comes of legal age, and he’s convinced they’re so much in love that marriage is the next step. Imagine his surprise the morning after he gives Rachel everything that she’s cool toward him and denies ever suggesting that she’d marry him. Philip then suspects that he’s been duped by a master manipulator and that his uncle may have been right to accuse his new wife of his murder. He sets out to discover the truth about his cousin Rachel.
The script was written by Fox stalwart Nunnally Johnson adapting du Maurier’s bestseller, and it’s a handsome adaptation keeping Rachel’s shadowy past, uncertain relationships, and guarded motivations carefully obscured to keep the audience (and poor Philip Ashley) guessing throughout the movie. While director Henry Koster might not quite have the same suspenseful touch that Alfred Hitchcock brought to Rebecca, he’s instilled plenty of atmosphere into the film making the Fox soundstages seem both like Italy and Cornwall, and the feverish dream sequence that comes more than two-thirds of the way through the movie is brilliantly conceived, composed, scored, and shot, clearly the movie’s most masterful few moments. The film’s resolution could have used some additional pacing to ratchet up the suspense a bit (what occurs off stage shouldn’t have been missed), but the film’s key mystery about the true nature of Rachel remains a satisfying puzzle for the audience to grapple with.
Olivia de Havilland had been absent from the screen for two years when she came back to tackle this title role, and while the actress certainly has no trouble playing such a perplexing, multi-dimensional “innocent,” she’s not quite dynamic enough here to carry it off with complete success (she showed much more authority and dimension more than a decade later in a similar enigmatic role in Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte). This was Richard Burton’s introduction to films, and he’s got screen charisma to burn in this Oscar-nominated turn as the besotted young man whose emotions (both love and hate) often get the better of him. Ronald Squire has plenty of good old English starchiness as Philip’s guardian Nick while Audrey Dalton stands by nobly as Philip’s faithful friend Louise who it’s certain is clearly waiting for more romantic involvement with the young heir. John Sutton gets only a few moments to establish his close bond with his cousin Philip, but it’s long enough to make Philip’s devastation at his loss completely believable. George Dolenz does very well as the mysterious Guido Rainaldi who may or may not be the secret lover of Rachel.
Video Quality
4/5
The film is presented in its theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. In many ways the picture quality is really outstanding with a crisp grayscale that registers both blacks and whites and all shades in between beautifully. Contrast has been dialed to perfection, and the image is always quite striking. Yes, there are some occasional dust specks, a bit of damage here and there, and reel change markers at certain times. Nevertheless, for a standard definition transfer of a film of this age, it’s a fine looking image. The film has been divided into 10 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound mix is decoded by Dolby Prologic into the center channel. The film’s well recorded dialogue, excellent music score by Franz Waxman, and ambient sound effects have all been skillfully blended into a single track without any one element overpowering the other. There is some minimal hiss to be heard, and there are occasional pops and clicks which are fairly typical for a film soundtrack of this age.
Special Features
2.5/5
The film’s theatrical trailer runs for 2 ¾ minutes.
The disc offers Franz Waxman’s superb score on an isolated stereo audio track, all the better to enjoy and appreciate its richness and dexterity to the images it accompanies.
The enclosed seven page booklet contains a generous selection of stills from the movie, the poster art for the film on the back cover of the booklet, and film historian Julie Kirgo’s thoughtful essay on the movie with all of its stupefying conundrums.
In Conclusion
4/5 (not an average)
As part of Twilight Time’s limited availability program, only 3,000 copies of My Cousin Rachel are available. Those interested in experiencing this four-time Oscar-nominated mystery featuring the screen debut of Richard Burton and the return to the screen of Olivia de Havilland should hop over to www.screenarchives.com to see if copies are still available. They're also available via Facebook at www.facebook.com/twilighttimemovies .
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
