Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (Movie Reaction)

[@garybrockie6327]

This was Hitchcock’s first film he made in America. This won an Oscar for Best Picture in 1940. There are SO many great Hitchcock pictures to recommend. His last film was released in 1976. TRY; 1960 Psycho 1959 North by Northwest 1958 Vertigo 1954 Rear Window 1953 Dial M for Murder 1951 Strangers on a Train 1948 Rope 1946 Notorious 1943 Shadow of. Doubt

[@rabbitandcrow]

Amazing! This is a classic. Thanks for the reaction!

[@melanie62954]

Hardly anyone reacts to this wonderful film! I'll have to check out your other reactions. In the book, Maxim did murder Rebecca--he shot her. But the production code at the time wouldn't allow a murderer to get away with it, so they changed it to an accident (Maxim says he hit her, but she recovered to take a step forward and then stumbled and fell, so in the film it was genuinely an accident). Also, it's pretty widely recognized that there's a lesbian subtext to Mrs. Danvers. At the very least, she was obsessed with Rebecca. Alfred Hitchcock famously had a tumultuous relationship with producer David O. Selznick, who was a real piece of work. But they made some fine films together!

[@HuntingViolets]

The actors had about a 10-year age gap, with Joan Fontaine being about 22-23 and Olivier being 32-33 in the year the film was released (1940). I think that works for the characters too, approximately.

[@melanie62954]

Oh, I meant to say too, when you mentioned a movie about an abusive husband, could you be thinking of Gaslight? It's not Hitchcock, but it's great!

[@thelowestcommondenominator]

@@melanie62954 Yes that was the movie. I thought it was Hitchcock. After Strangers on a train. I'll do whiplash, then gaslight.

[@rhrrtt]

Rebecca is a pretty unique movie. i.e. I can't think of any other where the main character never appears onscreen!

[@Ceractucus]

It’s been a while since I caught one of your videos and I am glad I did. This is a good one. Joan Fontaine was 10 years younger than Laurence Olivier aka Maxim de Winter. She is younger but it was more common back then. Trust me, once you reach a certain age, everyone under a certain age will be a “kid” to you. I am 54 and have called people older than you “kid”. But it’s not meant to be offesnsive.

[@thelowestcommondenominator]

@@Ceractucus Oh ten years isn't too bad ig. I still wouldn't if they just became an adult lol. But yea I get that. I used to have a mentor at my old job and she would call me a kid lol. I didn't mind it

[@melanie62954]

I don't know that the book specified, but suspect that Maxim was meant to be 15-20 years older than his wife. He has gray hair, and she's probably supposed to be 21 at the most. Definitely not uncommon back in the day though!

[@Muckylittleme]

They don't do slow burners anymore, but they should.

[@EpizodesHorizons]

Hitchcock films usually have a psychological aspect in the script. Be on the lookout in future films. For this film, I always thought it was very strange that a man would propose marriage to a woman he supposedly loves, while they are in separate rooms!! And their relationship resembles more of a parent scolding a child, than a loving adult male-female marriage.

[@rocketdave719]

In the book, Maxim definitely did kill Rebecca, but the production code at the time wouldn't allow for a character to commit murder and get away with it, so they were forced to say her death was an accident in the film. I like this movie, though my personal favorite adaptation of Rebecca is a miniseries from '97 starring Charles Dance, Diana Rigg and Emilia Fox. I've heard that the recent Netflix version is lousy.

[@HuntingViolets]

There's also a version with Jeremy Brett.

[@rocketdave719]

@@HuntingViolets I love Jeremy Brett - I actually have a photo of him as Sherlock Holmes on my wall - but while not bad, that’s my least favorite of the three Rebecca adaptations I’ve seen. It may not have helped that when I saw it for the first time a few years ago, it was a somewhat crummy VHS recording. But it also has a relatively cheap, made-for-TV feel. I just saw that someone uploaded a higher quality version of it to KZbin this year, so maybe I should give it another watch. You may already know this, but Joanna David, who played the second Mrs. de Winter in the 1979 Jeremy Brett version, is the mother of Emilia Fox who played the same character in the one with Charles Dance. I thought that was cool.

[@HuntingViolets]

@@rocketdave719 I was trying to think of her name. Yes, that is cool. And Anna Massey, who was Brett's ex-wife, played Mrs. Danvers.

[@SvenAnarki]

Interesting reaction! Great movie; glad you did it. Here are my notes on your reaction: You made maybe 5-6 disapproving "grunts" about the age difference in the first half of the film? I get it; 21st century self-righteous morality on full display. HOWEVER: As the film went along and you became invested in the story and not virtue signaling, your reaction to HER COUSIN, who was having SEXUAL RELATIONS with her, possibly IMPREGNATING HER elicited not a single morally superior grunt. So maybe next time let us know from the get-go if you are going to immerse yourself in the spirit of the times portrayed in the story, or let us know that a 10 year difference in age in dating is infinitely more offensive to you thsn incest.

[@HuntingViolets]

A cousin would not be considered incest at the time, and marriage between first cousins is legal in the UK and most states in the U.S. I'm not even sure they were first cousins, but they were both played as morally questionable characters at best anyway, so I'm not sure every individual thing they do bad requires disapproval. I also don't find May-December romances inherently bad; it could certainly be argued that Maxim focused on a vulnerable young woman who, he assumed, would not be as much trouble as Rebecca was, but that's another discussion.