Rebecca (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Rebecca |
| Original title | Rebecca |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1940 |
| length | 126 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Hitchcock |
| script |
Philip MacDonald , Michael Hogan , Robert E. Sherwood , Joan Harrison |
| production | David O. Selznick |
| music | Franz Waxman |
| camera | George Barnes |
| cut | Hal C. Kern |
| occupation | |
| |
Rebecca is an American psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock from 1940 with Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier in the lead roles. Hitchcock's first film shot in Hollywood is based on the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and is about a shy young woman who marries an English widower in Monaco and suffers from the omnipresent memories of the late first wife Rebecca on his estate. The film, which was nominated for an Oscar in eleven categories , won the awards for the best film and the best camera in a black and white film.
action
The shy partner, never named by name, was in Monte Carlo with her employer, Mrs. Van Hopper , when she met the wealthy Maxim de Winter. Maxim is still under the impression of the death of his wife Rebecca, who died a year earlier while sailing. Maxim and the young companion fall in love and from then on spend time together. Maxim surprisingly proposes marriage to her and takes her to his large estate Manderley in Cornwall after her honeymoon . Although Manderley is a famous property, the place looks gloomy, especially because of the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. This adored Rebecca idolatrously and makes it clear to the new landlady that she will never be able to fill the place of the beautiful, talented and popular Rebecca.
The second Mrs. de Winter arouses affection from Maxim's sister Beatrice and Maxim's manager Frank Crawley, but she hardly manages to overcome her shyness. Little by little, she also doubts Maxim, who apparently still loves Rebecca. At her urging, Crawley explains the circumstances of Rebecca's death to the new Mrs. de Winter, which nobody in Manderley wants to talk about. On a stormy evening she went out to sea with her sailing boat “Je reviens” (French: “I'll be back”) and never returned. Some time later, a body of water was found in Edgecombe that Maxim identified as Rebecca.
For Manderley's traditional masquerade ball, Mrs. Danvers gives the second Mrs. de Winter the idea to imitate the dress and hairstyle of one of Maxim's ancestors, whose portrait hangs in the gallery. But when she wears the costume, everyone is appalled and Maxim brusquely asks her to change immediately. It turns out that at the last masquerade ball, Rebecca wore the same dress. In desperation, the second Mrs. de Winter goes to the housekeeper to confront her. Mrs. Danvers tries to get her to throw herself out the window of the de Winters' former bedroom, but a flare from a ship in distress in the nearby bay brings Mrs. de Winter back to her senses. During the sea rescue, a diver also found the wreck of the sailing boat with Rebecca's body.
Maxim has a clarifying conversation with his wife, it turns out that he really hated Rebecca. She looked charming and cast a spell over people, but in fact she was cruel, callous and depraved. Out of consideration for family honor, Maxim made an agreement right after the wedding: Rebecca would make Manderley shine and maintain the appearance of a perfect wife. For that he would not interfere in her way of life as long as she remained discreet. She often traveled to London to indulge in her vices and, among other things, had an intimate relationship with her windy cousin Jack Favell. But over time she became immoderate and brought her lovers with her to the boathouse in Manderley. On the evening of her death, Maxim followed her to the boathouse and confronted her. Rebecca indicated that she could be pregnant by another man and that he, Maxim, would have to live with the idea that the property would one day go to someone else's child. In the course of the argument, Rebecca stumbled, fell miserably, and was instantly dead; then Maxim brought the body on their boat and sank it in the bay.
In the investigation procedure that was initiated, the boat builder Mr. Tabbs testifies that the boat was deliberately made to sink. At the end of the interrogation, the judge assumes a suicide. However, Jack Favell accuses Maxim of murder and tries to blackmail him. Eventually, it turns out that Rebecca was seeing a doctor in London the day before she died. She had advanced cancer and was about to die. Colonel Julyan is now also convinced that Rebecca killed herself. Things seem to have turned out well in the end, but that same night Mrs. Danvers, who was informed by Jack Favell by telephone from London, sets Manderley on fire and dies in the flames of the collapsing building. Maxim hugs his second Mrs. de Winter, and the film ends.
production
Pre-production
Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first American feature film. The underlying novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier from 1938 was a worldwide bestseller. The Hitchcocks were personally acquainted with Daphne's father Gerald du Maurier , and Hitchcock's previous film Riff Pirates and the 1963 thriller The Birds were filmed based on stories from du Maurier.
As early as early 1938, Hitchcock proposed Rebecca to producer David O. Selznick as a possible first joint film; the rights to the book were too expensive for Hitchcock at the time, otherwise he would have accessed it himself. Selznick was enthusiastic and immediately secured the film rights, and Hitchcock's contract with Selznick began the following year.
Work on the script
The first drafted script met with strong rejection by Selznick. As he was used to from England, Hitchcock deviated significantly from the novel. He changed the plot as well as the characters and locations, and he also added humorous aspects. Selznick was annoyed and sent Hitchcock a very long memorandum in which he expressed his displeasure. Among other things, he wrote: "(We do not want) the distorted and vulgarized version of a work that has already proven to be successful."
Among the numerous differences to the novel and some of the resulting logical inconsistencies in the plot, the most obvious is that Rebecca's death is portrayed as an accident in the film; in the novel, however, Maxim shoots Rebecca in an affect. The portrayal of a “murderer who gets away with it”, however, did not allow the Hollywood moral code of the producers. The Motion Picture Production Code laid down the common moral standards for film productions. Hitchcock complied, and so the already finished script by Michael Hogan , Alma Reville and Joan Harrison was adapted by Hitchcock, Selznick and the playwright Robert E. Sherwood, who was specially hired for it.
occupation
Selznick's notes indicate that the novel was originally purchased for $ 50,000 as a starring vehicle for Carole Lombard and Ronald Colman . Lombard chose the film They Knew What They Wanted . Hitchcock hired her for Mr. and Mrs. Smith the following year . Colman jumped out, fearing he would pale alongside the large-scale female lead. Selznick's second choice was William Powell and Laurence Olivier . The latter was willing to work for the "more modest" $ 100,000 and was hired.
In the wake of his hit film Gone with the Wind , which had been shot immediately before, Selznick wanted to make the search for the female lead for Rebecca an equally big publicity campaign. More than twenty actresses have been cast for the role of the second Mrs. de Winter . Screening shots were made with at least a dozen, including Loretta Young , Anne Baxter (with whom Hitchcock would later film I Confession ), Margaret Sullavan and Vivien Leigh , who was then married to Sir Laurence Olivier. This was already established as the male leading actor and was very committed to her. Selznick considered Olivia de Havilland , who, however, had already been signed for the film Raffles . After seeing her sister Joan Fontaine in the role of a meek wife in The Women , Hitchcock finally chose her.
production
The shooting made for a very tense relationship between Hitchcock and Selznick. Hitchcock's usual way of working, only to shoot what he needed for the finished film, deeply irritated Selznick, as he was used to assembling the film in the editing room from the scenes recorded several times from different camera angles and thus giving it the desired speed. Hitchcock's method did not allow this. For Joan Fontaine, filming was a particular burden. Hitchcock never missed an opportunity to let her know that no one on the set except him liked her, especially her partner Laurence Olivier. This made her feel depressed. In this constitution, whether intended by Hitchcock or not, Joan Fontaine played the role of the nondescript and intimidated second wife extremely convincingly. Judith Anderson was instructed by Hitchcock not to blink while shooting, in order to emphasize the emotional coldness of Mrs. Danvers.
The scenes of the dream sequence, the arrival on Manderley and the fire at the manor house had to be recreated with elaborately constructed model buildings. In order to maintain the gloomy atmosphere of the book, Hitchcock decided to shoot the film in black and white, in stark contrast to the previous colorful Selznick production Gone With the Wind , which had dominated the previous year. Rebecca cost over $ 1 million, making it by far Hitchcock's most expensive film to date, although it was enthusiastically received by the press and audiences.
Reception and classification
Rebecca was the only Hitchcock film (and also the first feature film to be distributed by United Artists ) to receive an Oscar for best film. However, this went to the producer David O. Selznick. Joan Fontaine was nominated for an Oscar for Best Female Leading Role. The award went to Ginger Rogers for her role in Miss Kitty (Kitty Foyle). Also nominated for best supporting role, Judith Anderson, who played the demonic housekeeper Mrs. Danvers , and Laurence Olivier got nothing.
Hitchcock's first US production, which was still very "British" in terms of style, ambience and choice of actors (Joan Fontaine's father was also British), also made a piece of typically British women's clothing popular worldwide: that worn by Joan Fontaine in many scenes Cardigan with a round neckline is called Rebeca in Spanish .
The film had its world premiere on March 27, 1940 in Los Angeles . The German premiere took place on June 6, 1951 in the Titania Palace in Berlin-Steglitz . Rebecca ran there out of competition as the opening film of the first Berlin International Film Festival . It was released in theaters in Germany in October 1951.
On November 6, 1950, the CBS radio station broadcast the 53-minute radio play Rebecca , whose dialogues were borrowed from Hitchcock's film. Laurence Olivier also speaks Maxim de Winter in it. At that time, his wish came true that his wife Vivien Leigh would take on the role of the new Mrs. de Winter. As early as 1943, Joan Fontaine played the role of the new Mrs. de Winter in a 30-minute radio play on the CBS.
Cameo
As in most of his films, Hitchcock makes a cameo in Rebecca . He is seen walking past Jack Favell in the 123rd minute, shortly after he called Mrs. Danvers from a phone booth.
synchronization
The company Hans-Grimm Film GmbH took care of the synchronization in 1951 . Some important actors were hired, including those like Agnes Fink and Johanna Fey, who rarely dubbed. Edith Schultze-Westrum wrote the dialogue book and Hans Grimm directed the dialogue .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Second Mrs. de Winter | Joan Fontaine | Agnes Fink |
| George Fortescue Maximilian "Maxim" de Winter | Laurence Olivier | Paul Klinger |
| Mrs. Danvers | Judith Anderson | Johanna Fey |
| Jack Favell | George Sanders | Curt Ackermann |
| Frank Crawley | Reginald Denny | Ernst Fritz Fürbringer |
| Beatrice Lacy | Gladys Cooper | Charlotte Scheier-Herold |
| Major Giles Lacy | Nigel Bruce | Otto Wernicke |
| Colonel Julyan | C. Aubrey Smith | ? |
| Edythe van Hopper | Florence Bates | Lina Carstens |
| Butler Frith | Edward Fielding | Anton Reimer |
| Examining magistrate | Melville Cooper | Anton Reimer |
| Dr. Baker | Leo G. Carroll | Klaus W. Krause |
| Ben | Leonard Carey | ? |
| Boat builder Tabbs | Lumsden Hare | ? |
| Robert | Philip Winter | Herbert Weicker |
Reviews
"[...], a romantic, fairytale-like thriller , which is characterized by a dense atmosphere, an exciting story and excellent actors."
“Demanding psychological film based on the somewhat artificial novel of the same name [...] Carefully translated into images using unusual artificial means. From around 18. "
"An older Hitchcock film based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, full of charming details, but on the whole not at the level of the mysterious tension that characterizes the best works of Hitchcock."
Awards
Academy Awards 1941
- Oscar for the best film : David O. Selznick
- Oscar for best camera in a black and white film : George Barnes
- Nomination for best director : Alfred Hitchcock
- Nomination for Best Actor : Laurence Olivier
- Nomination for the best leading actress : Joan Fontaine
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actress : Judith Anderson
- Nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay : Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison
- Nomination for the best production design in black and white : Lyle R. Wheeler
- Nomination for Best Editing : Hal C. Kern
- Nomination for Best Special Effects : Jack Cosgrove and Arthur Johns
- Nomination for the best film music : Franz Waxman
National Board of Review 1940
- Top ten films
New York Film Critics Circle Award 1940
- Nomination for the best leading actress: Joan Fontaine (3rd place)
Online Film & Television Association 2009
- OFTA Film Hall of Fame
Library of Congress
- Inclusion in the National Film Registry (2018)
literature
- Daphne du Maurier : Rebecca . First edition 1938. German first edition 1940 in the translation by Karin von Schaub. Numerous new editions.
- Paul Duncan, Jürgen Müller (Eds.): Film Noir, 100 All-Time Favorites. Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-8365-4353-8 , pp. 78–85.
- Joshua Klein: Rebecca (1940). In: Steven Jay Schneider (Ed.): 1001 films. Edition Olms, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-283-00497-8 , p. 165.
- Hans-Jürgen Kubiak: The Oscar Films. The best films from 1927/28 to 2004. The best non-English language films from 1947 to 2004. The best animated films from 2001 to 2004 . Schüren, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-89472-386-6 .
- Donald Spoto: Alfred Hitchcock - The dark side of genius . German translation by Bodo Fründt . Heyne, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-453-55146-X .
- John Russell Taylor: The Hitchcock Biography. Alfred Hitchcock's life and work (OT: Hitch, the Life and Work of Alfred Hitchcock) . Translated from English by Klaus Budzinski . Fischer (Fischer-Cinema), Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-596-23680-0 .
Web links
- Rebecca in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Rebecca in the online film database
- Rebecca atrotten tomatoes(English)
- Film review by Ulrich Behrens at Filmzentrale.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e IMDb: Trivia.
- ↑ TV feature film: Filmarchiv.
- ↑ Spanish Royal Academy: rebeca.
- ↑ Radio play Rebecca in full length (English)
- ↑ Full-length radio play , No. 129 of the list (English)
- ↑ See the entries Fink, Agnes and Fey, Johanna . In: Synchrondatenbank , accessed on May 14, 2020.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rebecca . In: Synchrondatenbank , accessed on May 14, 2020.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Rebecca (1940). In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on May 14, 2020 .
- ↑ npr.org: 'Jurassic Park,' 'The Shining,' And 23 Other Movies Added To National Film Registry