Moving into the director portion for our playlist, we begin things again with Alfred Hitchcock's American debut.
We open with the ruined remains of a massive manor home somewhere in the English countryside. A voice (Joan Fontaine) muses on the place, called Manderlay, and the tragedy that occurred there. We then flashback to Monte Carlo.
A young woman (Fontaine) meets an older man (Laurence Olivier) on the cliffs. She's drawing and he looks like he's about to throw himself into the sea. They chat but both leave before anything goes anywhere.
Later, our artist is having lunch with her employer Lady Edythe Van Hopper (Florence Bates). It seems her actual job is to be the paid companion to her ladyship and put up with the old woman's endless grousing. Her boredom is broken, however, when the older man from the cliffs enters the hotel.
His name is Maxin De Winter. He's also filthy rich and widowed. That last point has been an issue, as it seems his manor home of Manderlay was the focal point of British upper crust society at least until his wife Rebecca died suddenly.
Three dates later and our artist is now the second Mrs. De Winter. A point that housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) will not let go and we soon see just what extent Manderlay is haunted by its former mistress. Furniture, items, even the menus are exactly the same as when Rebecca lived and Mrs. Danvers makes it clear that no second wife is going to change things.
The rest of the servants aren't much better. Even when they're polite to her, they still treat the Mrs. like someone who just wandered inside. De Winter's family is worse, as the Mrs. overhears Maxim's sister Beatrice (Gladys Cooper) talking to her husband, Major Lacey (Nigel Bruce) about the shame Max has brought on the family by marrying a showgirl.
Of course, when we finally get a clear picture of Rebecca, well let's just say she wasn't the paragon of virtue that some think. It isn't until some time has passed before the second Mrs. even thinks to ask how did Rebecca die anyway?
Wonderful. Rebecca isn't seen yet she haunts every square inch of the sets. Mrs. Danvers alone could warrant a full review, as Anderson imbibes Danvers with a sense of menace that she commands every scene she's in.
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