| United Artists | Release Date: April 12, 1940 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
16
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Despite Hitch's discomfort at the iron hand of producer David Selznick, it remains one of his best-loved works. [23 Dec 2011, p.C10]
Picture is noteworthy in its literal translation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel to the screen, presenting all of the sombreness and dramatic tragedy of the book in its unfolding. More important, it commands attention in establishing Joan Fontaine as a potential screen personality of upper brackets.
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Shot like a horror film and featuring Olivier as one of the least sympathetic heroes in the Hitchcock canon, Rebecca's smart extrapolation on themes inherited from gothic thrillers and Brontë novels allows the director to begin with a suspenseful romance that barely keeps its subtext under the surface, and smuggle in a story of one woman's immersion into the sexual expectations of her era.
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Magnificent romantic-gothic corn, full of Alfred Hitchcock's humor and inventiveness.
Somewhat tonally inconsistent; following the social comedy of Monte Carlo and suspense of Manderley, the pace slackens in the crime procedural of the final half-hour, which is all tell and no show. Still, Hitchcock shows superb technical control and attends to his trademark motifs, from monstrous mother figures to the fetishisation of clothing (strong foreshadowings of ‘Vertigo’).
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