I'm a guy, and I'm more attracted to women, such as Joan Fontaine, in these old classics, rather than to the modern-day actresses. Not there aren't any good-looking women in show business today, but many of them try to be sexy rather than beautiful like Fontaine.
One of my favorite films too. Among the many amazing achievements is Manderley itself. The mansion didn't exist. It was two detailed scale models for different scenes. (The rain helped hide that it and the car were miniatures.) All the interiors were on sound stages. Incredible art direction, since Manderley is every bit as much a character as the remarkable actors.
Maybe, that's probably why. A lot of people mix up the original with the sequel so you most likely read it or heard it from somebody else. Du Maurier was incredible! I had to read Rebecca for school and I absolutely loved it. That's what got me to watch the film and since then I've become obsessed with black & white films.
Judith Anderson is one phenom actress. She gets the creep on in this one. Alfred Hitchcock new how to make a movie. Movies of today can not even come close to the movies of the past.
I agree there, she is very emotionally constrained. But there's such an icy intensity to it. Much like Lady Tremaine, who I'm sure you know she also gave her voice to.
Judith Anderson is one phenom actress. She gets the creep on in this one. Alfred Hitchcock new how to make a movie. Movies of today can not even come close to the movies of the past.. Does anyone else think of Vicki Lawerence when they see this?
Mrs Danvers is so creepy... She's as cold as ice! An incredible performance... One of my alltime favourite films! Thank you for posting it, it's hard enough to come by!
@pagrl08965 And Judith Anderson was the perfect actress to portray her. She should really have won the Oscar she was nominated for. The look she gives mrs. deWinter when they first meet - classic! She doesn't even have to speak, just look at you - goosebumps.
I think they said something like that in one of the sequels (Not written by daphne du maurier), but not in the original book. I read it six months ago and my memory is still pretty clear. What I do remember Mrs. Danvers saying was that Rebecca was afraid of growing old, getting sick, and dying.
Wow, thanx for pointing that out (first name missing)!!! It´s all about Rebecca, after all....the big menacing shadow looming in every corner of the house, and in Maxim´s head because of his guilty conscience....when in reality it is about the NEW (and TRUE) Mrs DeWinter - in the end putting Rebecca into her place... ;-)
Haha, through the majority of this film I'm either almost screaming in sentimentality or almost screaming in sheer awkwardness!! Plays with both extremities as well as the darker shades of an underlying ghost of Rebecca. The films like a painting of brilliant highlights and deep shadows. Beautifully painted in cinematic fashion! :)
@snipetracker it's because they're all plastic-fantastic divas...the only ones I can think of who hold a candle to the ladies, like Ingrid and Greta and Joan and Barbara, are Kate Winslet, Vera Farmiga, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Cate Blanchett...they've all got that old-school glamour about them
Thats a beautiful little scene at 7:22 as Joan Fontaine is leaving the room and a giant shadow from an enormous wrought iron lace-like covered window is cast on her back, making her look as small and incompetent as she feels.
Wait, what comment do you agree with? lol I 've left so many I can't tell. I adore Lady Tremaine. She was my fave in Cinderella. And when you meet her at Disneyworld she's hilarious as well as her daughters. But Judith Anderson did not give the voice to Lady Tremaine. It was Susan Audley who did. Susan also gave the voice to Maleficent and Madame Leota (the crystal ball) in Disney's Haunted Mansion ride. Amazing lady.
Yea and the way Rebecca's father is mentione but not her mother? Mrs. Danvers said she brought up Rebecca as a child. Plus, Rebecca uses the last name Danvers when she goes to see Baker. My friend's mother pointed out, while we were watching the film, that Mrs. Danvers could have been her mother. But I agree with you, it seems to me more of a motherly kind of love she holds.
Actually yes, it was heavily suggested both in the film and the book. The book took it a little further by having Mrs. Danvers tell Max and the other men investigating Rebecca's death that her mistress despised all men, she used them but apart from her cousin (yuck incest) whom she liked as one does a dog, there was no emotion towards any of her lovers. 'She only ever loved me' says Mrs. Danvers. The other thing they slightly change but I get why due to the censors, is that Mrs. Danvers lies on the bed with Rebecca's nightgown, which she layed out, and she dies caressing it.
Tha's actually a really good observation! The two movies do have some similarities when it comes to the villain/ heroine relation. Oh Cinderfella- yes! I need to see that! I saw a few clips her on youtube. I adore Judith Anderson and have tried to watch her in as many places as I can. :)
@StephanieGouldActor Oh, but that's how it was (remember the older "I Love Lucy" episodes? Two beds...for me, the fact that Fontaine just got married and looks so mortified and frenzied - like a tragic Hitchcock heroine - is hilarious...
I've definitely suspected Mrs. Danvers had a sort of unnatural reverence and admiration of Rebecca erring on lesbian...ness(?), but I don't think that the feeling was ever mutual. That's a strange thought. haha
Haha I noticed the extent of your comments! :) ....Maleficent! You're right I remember now! She's fantastic as well. I suppose...You could almost place parallels between when Maleficent lead Aurora up the staircase, inviting her to seal her own doom on the spindle; to when Mrs Danvers was purring in Mrs de Winter's ear to consider the easiness of throwing herself from Rebecca's window(almost an excretory connotationI think). ... Anyway I realise my mistake- I was thinking of Cinderfella!
yes, you are correct, I incorrectly identified the Joan Fontaine character as "REBECCA'. I didn't realize the 2nd Mrs Dewinter has no first name of her own. very telling. very great film.
if i were a powerful wealthy nobleman like Mr. De Winter, i would want i wife like the 2nd Mrs. De Winter, so shy and not confidant at all. terribly attractive.
I know they are from entirely different genres ... but when I first saw Mrs. Danvers, I half expected her to say, "I am Frau Blucher." (Horses whinny.)
XD Although a long time ago, some unmarried women would add the "Mrs" title to their name to make it seem as if they were married because married women were often more highly regarded than single women.
A lot of people speculate a lesbian love between Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca... even though Mrs. Danvers is supposed to be very old, and knew Rebecca when she was a child... it seems more like a motherly love Mrs. Danvers holds.
That's not true. She seems cold as ice but that's because she adored Rebecca like a mother. In the book she cries three time overher but in the movie she's much more emotionless.
I feel so bad for Joan Fontaine's character. At first it's like, yeah! I get to marry Laurence Olivier, and live in this awesome house. But I could not stand having people wait on me all day and follow me around... I would go crazy!
Yeah it was common in rich households that could afford butlers and mansions and such. I would hate to sit that far away from my husband, it's too formal.
It's not just Maxim. Rebecca was hitting hard on Frank, who almost quit because of it, not wanting to tell Maxim what Rebecca was doing (this is in the book). She also hit on Giles, but Beatrice already had a good idea what sort of person Rebecca was, and the two of them didn't often visit after that.
neither do tom cruise and katie holmes but... anyways back to rebecca... i never get the feeling that maxim and the second mrs. dewinter have a sexual relationship but maybe that the point.
I'm a guy, and I'm more attracted to women, such as Joan Fontaine, in these old classics, rather than to the modern-day actresses. Not there aren't any good-looking women in show business today, but many of them try to be sexy rather than beautiful like Fontaine.
Wonderful film one of my favourites never get sick of watching this. Love mrs Danvers wonderful actress
One of my favorite films too. Among the many amazing achievements is Manderley itself. The mansion didn't exist. It was two detailed scale models for different scenes. (The rain helped hide that it and the car were miniatures.) All the interiors were on sound stages. Incredible art direction, since Manderley is every bit as much a character as the remarkable actors.
this movie is wonderfull and i'd expect no less from Alfred Hitchcock
The fact of Joan's character not having a first name is intentional. That's because
you hear Rebecca's name, and never see her. This is the opposite.
Oh my gosh, she totally does. All these years of watching "Rebecca" and that never occurred to me. Lol.
I love Frank, Maxim's assistant and friend. So gentle and handsome!
Love this film watch it all the time 🌹
Judith Anderson is just perfect as Mrs. Danvers, her very performance just gives me goosebumps
Indeed she has. She's without any doubt the most scary woman I have seen.. but she plays her role perfectly ^^
She looks prettier and more put together than I imagined her in the book.
Maybe, that's probably why. A lot of people mix up the original with the sequel so you most likely read it or heard it from somebody else. Du Maurier was incredible! I had to read Rebecca for school and I absolutely loved it. That's what got me to watch the film and since then I've become obsessed with black & white films.
Firth is so nice helping her...
Judith Anderson is one phenom actress. She gets the creep on in this one. Alfred Hitchcock new how to make a movie. Movies of today can not even come close to the movies of the past.
I agree there, she is very emotionally constrained. But there's such an icy intensity to it. Much like Lady Tremaine, who I'm sure you know she also gave her voice to.
Judith Anderson is one phenom actress. She gets the creep on in this one. Alfred Hitchcock new how to make a movie. Movies of today can not even come close to the movies of the past.. Does anyone else think of Vicki Lawerence when they see this?
Mrs Danvers is so creepy... She's as cold as ice! An incredible performance... One of my alltime favourite films! Thank you for posting it, it's hard enough to come by!
I read the book and fell in love with the story and this film just makes the book come alive even more : D
@pagrl08965 And Judith Anderson was the perfect actress to portray her. She should really have won the Oscar she was nominated for. The look she gives mrs. deWinter when they first meet - classic! She doesn't even have to speak, just look at you - goosebumps.
Briliant in every way wish they made em like this still !
gah! I just love the dress Fontaine is wearing around 3:00! It's gorgeous on her
I think they said something like that in one of the sequels (Not written by daphne du maurier), but not in the original book. I read it six months ago and my memory is still pretty clear. What I do remember Mrs. Danvers saying was that Rebecca was afraid of growing old, getting sick, and dying.
I love this movie! The books is so good! I have read this book over 6 times and every time i realize something new in Daphne Du Maurier's writting!
Isn't Mrs Danvers a wonderful villain. That cold voice, those cruel eyes. Judith Anderson deserved an oscar.
Yeah. Mrs Danvers scares the living daylights out of me. The house too. Cold, dark and full of shadows.
Mrs. Danvers....... what a witch e_o
Wow, thanx for pointing that out (first name missing)!!! It´s all about Rebecca, after all....the big menacing shadow looming in every corner of the house, and in Maxim´s head because of his guilty conscience....when in reality it is about the NEW (and TRUE) Mrs DeWinter - in the end putting Rebecca into her place...
;-)
Yea, sort of like a motherly love. She does after all say that she brought Rebecca up as a child.
haha, that's the perfect phrase for her life though 'one giant cringe'. It's so true. She's so timid it makes you want to hug her!
Haha, through the majority of this film I'm either almost screaming in sentimentality or almost screaming in sheer awkwardness!! Plays with both extremities as well as the darker shades of an underlying ghost of Rebecca. The films like a painting of brilliant highlights and deep shadows. Beautifully painted in cinematic fashion! :)
Poor kid.
Mrs. Danvers reminds me of the evil stepmother in Snow White.. but I don't recall her as Morticia..
@snipetracker
it's because they're all plastic-fantastic divas...the only ones I can think of who hold a candle to the ladies, like Ingrid and Greta and Joan and Barbara, are Kate Winslet, Vera Farmiga, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Cate Blanchett...they've all got that old-school glamour about them
Thats a beautiful little scene at 7:22 as Joan Fontaine is leaving the room and a giant shadow from an enormous wrought iron lace-like covered window is cast on her back, making her look as small and incompetent as she feels.
Wait, what comment do you agree with? lol I 've left so many I can't tell. I adore Lady Tremaine. She was my fave in Cinderella. And when you meet her at Disneyworld she's hilarious as well as her daughters. But Judith Anderson did not give the voice to Lady Tremaine. It was Susan Audley who did. Susan also gave the voice to Maleficent and Madame Leota (the crystal ball) in Disney's Haunted Mansion ride. Amazing lady.
Yea and the way Rebecca's father is mentione but not her mother? Mrs. Danvers said she brought up Rebecca as a child. Plus, Rebecca uses the last name Danvers when she goes to see Baker. My friend's mother pointed out, while we were watching the film, that Mrs. Danvers could have been her mother. But I agree with you, it seems to me more of a motherly kind of love she holds.
@Nita611 no thats the actresses last name "Joan Fontaine " . she plays the main woman who's name is never mentioned
Mrs Danvers was extremely fond of the late Mrs de Winter and hinted at throughout the storyline, and many even suggested a "closer" relationship???
Actually yes, it was heavily suggested both in the film and the book. The book took it a little further by having Mrs. Danvers tell Max and the other men investigating Rebecca's death that her mistress despised all men, she used them but apart from her cousin (yuck incest) whom she liked as one does a dog, there was no emotion towards any of her lovers. 'She only ever loved me' says Mrs. Danvers. The other thing they slightly change but I get why due to the censors, is that Mrs. Danvers lies on the bed with Rebecca's nightgown, which she layed out, and she dies caressing it.
NBC film critic. I think it was during the '70's or '80's that he said it. There have been a couple stage/screen adaptations of the book.
Mrs Danvers only loved and madly respected Rebecca so it's quite expected for her to dislike this new girl who isn't half the woman Rebecca was.
Tha's actually a really good observation! The two movies do have some similarities when it comes to the villain/ heroine relation. Oh Cinderfella- yes! I need to see that! I saw a few clips her on youtube. I adore Judith Anderson and have tried to watch her in as many places as I can. :)
@StephanieGouldActor Oh, but that's how it was (remember the older "I Love Lucy" episodes? Two beds...for me, the fact that Fontaine just got married and looks so mortified and frenzied - like a tragic Hitchcock heroine - is hilarious...
Danvers: "Mrs. De Winter was most particular about sauces"...
Such a shy girl is an easy target for mean people
I've definitely suspected Mrs. Danvers had a sort of unnatural reverence and admiration of Rebecca erring on lesbian...ness(?), but I don't think that the feeling was ever mutual. That's a strange thought. haha
i think i liked this better than the 1979 version
Mrs. Danvers underestimates her too much
Haha I noticed the extent of your comments! :)
....Maleficent! You're right I remember now! She's fantastic as well. I suppose...You could almost place parallels between when Maleficent lead Aurora up the staircase, inviting her to seal her own doom on the spindle; to when Mrs Danvers was purring in Mrs de Winter's ear to consider the easiness of throwing herself from Rebecca's window(almost an excretory connotationI think).
...
Anyway I realise my mistake- I was thinking of Cinderfella!
separate rooms...holy crap.
yes, you are correct, I incorrectly identified the Joan Fontaine character as "REBECCA'. I didn't realize the 2nd Mrs Dewinter has no first name of her own.
very telling.
very great film.
if i were a powerful wealthy nobleman like Mr. De Winter, i would want i wife like the 2nd Mrs. De Winter, so shy and not confidant at all. terribly attractive.
We'll never know what the second Mrs. De Winter's name was. But I really wish she would SLAP Mrs. Danvers.
I know they are from entirely different genres ... but when I first saw Mrs. Danvers, I half expected her to say, "I am Frau Blucher." (Horses whinny.)
Somehow I envisioned Mrs. Danvers.... older when reading the book.
ms. de winter's been dead for over a year
love this quote
XD Although a long time ago, some unmarried women would add the "Mrs" title to their name to make it seem as if they were married because married women were often more highly regarded than single women.
i remember when i read a comment saying that they never say mrs.de winters name (fontaine) .. i felt so dumb for not realizing it.
A lot of people speculate a lesbian love between Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca... even though Mrs. Danvers is supposed to be very old, and knew Rebecca when she was a child... it seems more like a motherly love Mrs. Danvers holds.
Poor Rebecca...she really isn't getting the hang of being a 'great lady'
I think it was Gene Shalit who said "we can only wonder what became of poor Mr. Danvers."
My favorite is Florence Bates. She played Mrs. Van Hopper.
thx
lol I don't think she's ugly but I don't think she's hot wither. She's so awesome though, I love Mrs. Danvers =] Def my favorite charcter!
This is exactly how I imagined Manderly to look when I read the book
I wish the second Mrs. De Winters was given a name.
the fact that they have separate rooms is hilarious.
It's the same with today's music...well, most of it.
That's not true. She seems cold as ice but that's because she adored Rebecca like a mother. In the book she cries three time overher but in the movie she's much more emotionless.
Ah, I see. He does have a point there I must say.
I feel so bad for Joan Fontaine's character. At first it's like, yeah! I get to marry Laurence Olivier, and live in this awesome house. But I could not stand having people wait on me all day and follow me around... I would go crazy!
@nerdgant the character or the actress that plays her?
Yeah it was common in rich households that could afford butlers and mansions and such. I would hate to sit that far away from my husband, it's too formal.
I don't think I could live in a house with all of those people.
lol... Mr. and Mrs. DeWinter don't sleep in the same room? I guess it's cause of the bed "rule" on screen/tv back in that time.
I would have fired Danvers as soon as I stepped into Manderley.
@moviegurl16 Did you know that Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland are sisters? They really do look alike.
Ms Danvers played Big Daddy's wife "Big Mama" in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
@BillyAndDeclanFan
In the book max killed rebacca and in the movie it was an accident
Non veniva ritenuta, dalla governante, all'altezza del ruolo
Does anybody know which house this movie was filmed?
I think it's strange that they each had their own room and they ate so far apart away from each other. Was that normal?
HA! Miss Danvers HATED Rebecca on sight, this sort of thing happens a lot between females.
@panther33460 Duh that's the whole point of the story
did anyone know that Mrs. Danvers was gay in real life? she's in a book called Hollywood Lesbians.
Why on earth would they have left out Rebbecca's stuff?
Scarlett and Angelina are beautiful. But actresses like Fontaine were graceful and groomed by the studios.
lmfao what??? Mrs Danvers is hot? Wow, haven't heard that one before! XD
i imagined frank crawley looking younger and more handsome and pale
It's not just Maxim. Rebecca was hitting hard on Frank, who almost quit because of it, not wanting to tell Maxim what Rebecca was doing (this is in the book). She also hit on Giles, but Beatrice already had a good idea what sort of person Rebecca was, and the two of them didn't often visit after that.
Really? I think she's more like Lady Tremaine (Cinderella's stepmother).
Lol.
@bonquiqui874 Me too
DANVERS.NOT Danville
Maybe shes his mother
Mrs. Danvers... creepy!
to me she's hot must be the dark looks
neither do tom cruise and katie holmes but... anyways back to rebecca...
i never get the feeling that maxim and the second mrs. dewinter have a sexual relationship but maybe that the point.
is mrs. danvers a lesbian? she's just reaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllyyyyyyy obsessed with rebecca
@daydreamer493
Censors and moral code clauses.
me 2 ;)