On Sunday, I watched the movie Rebecca for the Lit Flicks Challenge. I’m not a movie critic, so I’m mostly going to review the movie from the adaptation standpoint. Thus, *spoilers* appear below. For my review of the book, see here.
In general, this was a faithful adaptation of the book. It even starts out with the dream and famous first line: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” However, the movie didn’t quite capture the magic of the book for me.
Though I’m not usually bothered by this, I was disappointed that the movie was in black and white. Right, 1940. But the images and colors in the book, particularly the drive up to Manderley and the blood-red flowers around the house, were an important part of the book for me. Also, the shots of Manderley were not very clear, as if they didn’t have an amazingly beautiful house to shoot. Anyway, the movie didn’t really work visually for me.
Also, I didn’t quite feel the horror of the thing. Based on the book and the fact that Alfred Hitchcock directed the movie, I was expecting a little more horror. Maybe they softened the plot up too much by having Rebecca’s death be “accidental.” Maybe it’s because I knew what was going to happen. I don’t know.
In spite of my other complaints, the acting was admittedly excellent. Both Olivier and Fontaine were perfect as Max de Winter and the second Mrs. de Winter. The best casting, though, in my opinion was Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers. She was so creepy!
In all, this was an enjoyable movie to watch. But here’s to hoping someone does a remake – in color!
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I remember reading something about a remake with Ralph Fiennes as Max de Winter, but I’m not sure if it was true.
I watched this a long, long time ago… I need to watch it again now that I’ve read the book to see how it compares.
I saw this movie before I ever read the book, so it’s forever endeared to me. However, if you’re looking for something a little more along the lines of the book and in color, check out Masterpiece’s 1997 version with Diana Rigg as Mrs. Danvers. It was good and you may recognize the second Mrs. DeWinter from P&P (Georgiana) and Maxim (Bleak House, Gosford Park).
what a really cute blog :-)
I am here to remind you about the Read-a-thon taking place on Oct 18th. It just 2 days away, and I really hope that you ready… and are all ready to get -reading :)!
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A local theater is showing Rebecca this weekend. I’m thinking about going. I’ll have to hunt down the book. :)
I remember enjoying this movie. I don’t remember the ending exactly (its been a while), but I remember they changed things to where the husband was kind of less guilty maybe? Anyhow, they had to clean it up, I suppose.
I read this for a college English/women’s studies course and we watched it w/ an eye for how diff the film is… I love the book and have a book in the stack called “Rebecca’s Tale” by Sally Beauman which is supposed to be a prequel.