A shy ladies' companion (Fontaine), staying in Monte Carlo with her stuffy employer, meets the wealthy Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier). She and Max fall in love, marry and return to Manderley, his large country estate in Cornwall. Max is still troubled by the death of his first wife, Rebecca, in a boating accident the year before. The second Mrs. de Winter clashes with the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, and discovers that Rebecca still has a strangle hold on everyone at Manderley.
What strikes me first about the film is the two powerful leads steering it; Fontaine and Olivier. Fontaine is strangely beautiful and delightfully awkward, like a small fish in a very big pond. Olivier is his usual brooding, elegantly sophisticated self. But it's the maid that steals the show!
Judith Anderson as the delightfully twisted Mrs. Danvers adds a lot to this film. You hardly notice the other characters when she's in the scene. Mrs. Danvers is hardly ever seen walking; she seems to glide. Alfred Hitchcock wanted her to be seen solely from Joan Fontaine's character's anxious point of view, and this effect tied in with her fear about Mrs. Danvers appearing anytime unexpectedly.
Some highlights of the film include the scene in which Mrs. Danvers shows Fontaine Rebecca's room for the first time - brilliantly unnerving. And the imaginary murder re-enactment in which the camera shows where Rebecca would have stood and leave the audience to use their imaginations to determine how it all played out! A genius Hitchcock moment. And I need to mention the unforgettable dramatic ending...it's a must see!
