Rebecca (DVD)

Rebecca (1940) starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, George Sanders. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Young woman (Fontaine) marries rich man named de Winter (Olivier) and finds herself intimidated by her new life -- a huge mansion called Manderley and a large staff of servants whom she doesn't know how to command. Particularly scary is Mrs. Danvers (Anderson), the head servant who was very fond of the young woman's predecessor, Rebecca de Winter. An interesting point of filmmaking -- the new Mrs. de Winter (Fontaine) is never addressed by name. In fact, she seems to have no name. I think this was done on purpose, to keep Rebecca front and center. The film won the Oscar for Best Picture. Several of the actors were nominated, but did not win. Although the music has been praised elsewhere, I felt that the lack of a strong soundtrack was a weakness of this movie. The disc offers English subtitles, as well as closed captions. Grade: B+