When Alfred Hitchcock decided he wanted to come to America to make films in order to utilize the greater facilities and larger pool of star talent, he signed on not with one of the Hollywood giants but with boutique studio David O. Selznick’s Selznick International. The contract was for five pictures over seven years, and while they originally talked about Titanic being his maiden voyage in American moviemaking, he went to work instead on Rebecca, a gothic romance with the kind of brooding melancholia and dark, whispered secrets which appealed to the master of suspense. While those who are more familiar with Rear Window or North by Northwest might blink twice at the choice of the movie for Hitchcock's first American film, another look at it proves that he brought enormous sensitivity and an immersive oppression to the film’s tone making it his only Oscar-winning Best Picture and firmly establishing himself as one of the directorial elite in this country for the rest of his career.
Rebecca (Blu-ray)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Studio: MGM
Year: 1940
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono English
Subtitles: SDH
Region: A
MSRP: $ 24.99
Release Date: January 24, 2012
Review Date: January 25, 2012
The Film
5/5
After the death of his first wife Rebecca, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) is holidaying in Monte Carlo when he comes into contact with the paid companion (Joan Fontaine) of the arch Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates). While her employer is laid up in bed with a cold, Max spends every day with the timid young girl, and she quickly falls in love with him and they marry. Coming to his huge English estate Manderley, she’s overwhelmed at its grandeur and at the role she’s expected to play as its mistress: in charge of all the household activities and an army of servants. The housekeeper is the imperious Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) who was slavishly devoted to the previous Mrs. de Winter and can barely mask her resentment at her mousy replacement. But Rebecca’s ghost seems to hover over the entire estate and over her husband, too, whose moody temperament combined with her own uncertainty make life at Manderley anything but rosy.
Hitchcock’s matchless direction is as smooth and assured as the new Mrs. de Winter is tentative and halting. He has the camera explore this vast manor house so expertly that he makes each room a new albeit slightly shuddery discovery. Along the way, we, like the new lady of the house, are intimidated by Rebecca’s former authority. Her influence is everywhere one turns: the stationery, the linens, even her dog lies before her bedroom door waiting for her to exit. Hitchcock waits for ninety minutes to present the first in a series of surprising revelations about Rebecca, information that would have made her replacement a much happier and more comfortable inhabitant of Manderley had she only been given this information by someone. For the remaining forty minutes, the film’s tone shifts to something akin to impending dread, the kind of situation Hitchcock reveled in where the audience is given information and must stew in its own juices as the events slowly unfold. Anyone who thinks Rebecca isn’t a Hitchcock movie isn’t paying very close attention.
The performances are peerless. This was the first real indication that Joan Fontaine had the makings of a star. One sees her growing throughout the picture from the bumbling mouse to the steadfast wife and loyal companion, no longer holding a schoolgirl crush on her husband but her love having gradually matured into something much richer and stronger. Having become a matinee idol in Wuthering Heights the year before, Laurence Oliver cuts another dashing figure as Max de Winter. True, his brooding and quicksilver mood changes seem frustrating and sometimes inexplicable until we get deeply into the film’s running time, but revisits to the movie show a finely crafted portrayal of depth and precision. Judith Anderson’s towering Mrs. Danvers, all steely iciness and controlled malevolence, is perhaps the film’s most memorable character. George Sanders oozes unctuous charm as Rebecca’s cousin Jack Favell. Gladys Cooper makes a strong impression in a couple of scenes as Max’s starchy sister Beatrice who sees beneath her new sister-in-law’s timidity and understands that love and support are there. Reginald Denny as Max’s overseer Frank Crawley and C. Aubrey Smith as local sheriff Colonel Julyan add color to the cast in their roles.
Video Quality
4.5/5
The film’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1 is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. This is a very clean, film-like transfer with a very solid grayscale. Contest entry code: manor. Black levels seem a little meek near the beginning, but they improve greatly soon enough and are mostly impressive. Contrast has been expertly applied to offer up a very crisp picture, certainly the best the movie has ever looked on home video. The film has been divided into 28 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track presents the dialogue, sound effects, and Franz Waxman’s wonderfully brooding music together in a solid sound mix. There’s a bit of low hiss to be heard in the quieter scenes of the movie, but there is nothing that is really very distracting in this audio design which sounds very much a part of the era in which it was produced.
Special Features
4/5
The audio commentary is by film critic Richard Schickel. MGM has not chosen a starry-eyed Hitchcock fan to comment on the movie, and one gets the impression early on when Schickel terms this a “women’s picture.” He’s not particularly flattering to Olivier or to the film as a whole frankly, and there are some gaps as his commentary starts and stops. He does have information about the actors and the production to offer, though, so the commentary is worth at least one listen.
There is an isolated music and effects track option for the viewer.
All of the featurettes are presented in 480i.
“The Making of Rebecca” is a 28-minute examination of Hitchcock’s contract with Selznick as well as an examination of various aspects of the movie with comments from Hitchcock’s granddaughter as well as a host of film scholars and critics weighing in on the merits of the film (all of whom seem much more enthusiastic about it than commentator Richard Schickel).
“The Gothic World of Daphne Du Maurier” offers an interesting mini-biography of the famous novelist by a host of book critics and comment on the three works of the author which Hitchcock adapted for the screen. They also compare aspects of Rebecca to other popular Gothic-themed literature. This runs 19 minutes.
Hitchcock was forced to screen test a large number of Hollywood’s leading ladies for the role of the second Mrs. de Winter, but only two screen tests are offered here: Margaret Sullavan and Vivien Leigh. Each runs about 4 ½ minutes. Leigh does her test with Laurence Oliver.
Three radio adaptations of the story are presented. The 1938 version with Orson Welles and Margaret Sullvan runs 59 ½ minutes. The 1941 version with Ronald Colman and Ida Lupino runs 58 ½ minutes. The 1950 version with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh runs 60 ¼ minutes.
Two audio-only interviews with Alfred Hitchcock are offered. He speaks with Peter Bogdanovich for 4 ¼ minutes and to Francois Truffaut for 9 ¼ minutes. The Truffaut interview contains a translator for each gentleman which some may find distracting.
The theatrical trailer runs for 2 ¼ minutes.
In Conclusion
4.5/5 (not an average)
Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film comes blissfully to Blu-ray with Rebecca. The 1940 film has never looked better on home video and contains the same bonus features ported over from the last MGM DVD issue of the movie. Highly recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
