Rebecca (1940)
Average Rating: 8.6/10
Reviews Counted: 43
Fresh: 43 | Rotten: 0
Hitchcock's first American film (and his only Best Picture winner), Rebecca is a masterpiece of haunting atmosphere, Gothic thrills, and gripping suspense.
Average Rating: 8.1/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 0
Hitchcock's first American film (and his only Best Picture winner), Rebecca is a masterpiece of haunting atmosphere, Gothic thrills, and gripping suspense.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 37,169
My Rating
Movie Info
Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the classic psychological thriller Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film. Joan Fontaine plays the unnamed narrator, a young woman who works as a companion to the well-to-do Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates). She meets the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) in Monte Carlo, where they fall in love and get married. Maxim takes his new bride to Manderlay, a large country estate in Cornwall. However, the mansion's many servants
Mar 27, 1940 Limited
Mar 13, 2001
United Artists
Cast
-
Laurence Olivier
Maxim de Winter -
Joan Fontaine
Mrs. de Winter -
George Sanders
Jack Favell -
Judith Anderson
Mrs. Danvers -
Nigel Bruce
Maj. Giles Lacey -
Reginald Denny
Frank Crowley -
C. Aubrey Smith
Col. Julyan -
Gladys Cooper
Beatrice Lacy -
Florence Bates
Mrs. Van Hopper -
Melville Cooper
The Coroner -
Leo G Carroll
Dr. Baker -
Leonard Carey
Ben -
Lumsden Hare
Tabb -
Edward Fielding
Frith -
Philip Winter
Robert -
Forrester Harvey
Chalcroft -
Billy Bevan
Policeman -
Leyland Hodgson
Chauffeur
ADVERTISEMENT
Rebecca Trailer & Photos
All Critics (43) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (0) | DVD (32)
This time Hitchcock does it all his way, does a splendid job and has a splendid cast to do it with.
Top CriticOne of the finest productional efforts of the past year.
Through its first two-thirds it is as perfect a myth of adolescence as any of the Disney films, documenting the childlike, nameless heroine's initiation into the adult mysteries of sex, death, and identity.
Hitchcock shows superb technical control and attends to his trademark motifs, from monstrous mother figures to the fetishisation of clothing.
An altogether brilliant film, haunting, suspenseful, handsome and handsomely played.
The result exhibits that the director is capable of a range few would credit him with.
Self-consciously prestigious literary filmmaking... more in line with the producer's career than the director's.
It's an elegant production, beautifully photographed and designed like a dream house shrouded in mourning, but it also favors the pictorial over the cinematic and surface over subtext.
Let's take a moment to talk about water.
a clever mix of fancy drama and suspense
A few tiny scratches short of an early candidate for Blu-ray of the year, Fox's fully stocked HD package for Rebecca is an essential release of an exquisitely mixed-up masterpiece.
...a gothic romance in the classic sense. (Blu-ray edition)
While the film offers no overt violence or thrills, it is a model of sustained mystery and eerie suspense.
The real show-stopper remains Judith Anderson's formidable turn as Mrs. Danvers.
Excellent, but may be too long and moody for kids.
Both a tender gothic romance and a haunting ghost story.
A real treat. Captivating from its famous opening lines to its pyrotechnic finale, this is one of Hitchcock's finest -- and that's saying something.
[A] classic female gothic romance, beautifully adapted from Daphne du Maurier's novel, and hauntingly accompanied by Franz Waxman's score.
Fontaine & Olivier directed by Hitchcock - enjoy.
Audience Reviews for Rebecca
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
-
- Maxim de Winter: And I should be making violent love to you behind a palm tree.
-
- Maxim de Winter: It's gone forever, that funny young, lost look I loved won't ever come back. I killed that when I told you about Rebecca. It's gone. In a few hours, you've grown so much older.
-
- Mrs. de Winter: How do you do?
- Mrs. Danvers: How do you do.... I have everything in readiness for you.
-
- Mrs. de Winter: Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Rebecca yet.
Latest News on Rebecca
February 10, 2012:
DreamWorks Plans Remake of Hitchcock's RebeccaThe studio hires "A History of Violence" screenwriter Steven Knight to tackle a new script.
What's Hot On RT
Bradley Cooper's Best Movies
Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh
Fast & Furious cars gallery
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Weekly Ketchup: Fox and Marvel Both Courting Quicksilver for Comic Blockbusters 30
- Critics Consensus: Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh 62
- Red Carpet Photos with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano and More 0
- Video: The Hangover Part III Cast Interviews 0
- Total Recall: Bradley Cooper's Best Movies 50
- Parental Guidance: Epic and Beautiful Creatures 2
- Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online 16
Top Headlines
-
Evan Peters Joins X-Men: Days of Future Past
0
-
Toby Jones Talks Captain America: The Winter Soldier
1
-
The Poltergeist Reboot May Actually Be a Sequel
18
-
Will Forte Promises MacGruber 2
5
-
Universal Plans Timecop Reboot
2
-
Return of the Jedi Turns 30
2
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Take Place in L.A.
0
Foreign Titles
- Rebecca (DE)
- Rebecca (1940) (CA)


The film is brimming with lots of great stuff, especially a wonderful score by Franz Waxman, some great art direction, set design, gorgeous cinematography, and some excellent atmosphere, mood, and tone. This is a fine gothic psychological mystery chiller.
This was Hitchcock's only Oscar winning film (it took Best Picture in 1940), and it seems odd to me that not only did this get best picture, but that none of Hitchcock's work got any love from the Academy. To be fair, Foreign Correspondant was in competetion for the top prize with Rebecca the same year, but still, none of his great stuff from the late 50s-early 60s?
I enjoyed this film, but honestly, as much as I dig Hitch's work, I don't thnk this is Best Picture material, and it's rather overrated in general. Oh sure, I enjoyed it, but it really doesn't come off as all that special. It also doesn't help that it only somewhat seems like a proper Hitch film, something reinforced by the fact that the man himself called it a "Selznick film" instead of one of his own.
Where the acting is concerned, Joan Fontaine is decent as our protagonist, and Olivier is passable as our newlywedded widower, but I can't help but feel that he was holding back a bit. It's not a bad performance, but it should be a great one. The film does have one performance that really is quite brilliant, and that is the one given by Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers. She's the real scene stealer here. Everything about her performance and just her in general is awesome, from her voice and delivery to her mannerisms and facial expressions, especially her fiendishly eerie glare, this is one of the greatest creepy characters out there.
All in all, a decent enough film, but far from great. Maybe had Hitch had more control this could have really been a mesmerizing spectacle instead of a compromised offering from the Master of Suspense. Straight (but solid) B.