Rent Rebecca (1940)

This production is wonderful for its sustained, threatening atmosphere - Rebecca review by CH

Still chills, after 65 years, as only black-and-white can do. Hitchcock never fails to entertain. Sound quality has suffered a bit with age, and sadly there are no sub-titles.

Hitchcock's American Debut. - Rebecca review by Steve

Fairly faithful adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's rewrite of Jane Eyre makes for one of the screen's great gothic romances. Rebecca was Hitch's first in the dream factory and it is is much longer and visually more spacious and opulent than his British films, with a more prominent score. But less audacious.

Laurence Olivier is well cast for that touch of ruthlessness that he could never quite conceal, Judith Anderson is legendary as Mrs. Danvers, and Joan Fontaine breaks your heart every time as... well, we never even learn her name, as the book/film is titled after the first Mrs. de Winter!

It is a story in which we are invited to empathise with an inexperienced woman who marries into one of the great homes of England, only to be tormented by the memory of her husband's former wife.

Supposedly Hitch wanted to hollow out and reimagine the source novel, but David Selznick insisted he stay close to the source. Many see this as more of a Selznick than a Hitchcock, but I think that underplays the Master's technical mastery. He does a great job of making the second Mrs. de Winter look small, lost and isolated at Manderley and the ballroom scene is a triumph. Whoever provides the signature, this is one of the great Hollywood films.

This DVD has no subtitles, don't overlook it like I did! - Rebecca review by NG.

(Don't take my star rating seriously). After rental after rental with subs, I didn't check whether this DVD has subtitles because I took subtitles for granted.