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A REVIEW OF THE FILM REBECCA BY ALFRED HITCHCOCK An Assignment Submitted by Name of Student Name of Establishment Class XXXX, Section XXXX, Fall 2011

A REVIEW OF THE FILM REBECCA BY ALFRED HITCHCOCK Master of suspense. King of horror. Pioneer of many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres (Mogg, 2010). These epithets come to mind any time when we hear the name of one of the most outstanding film directors in the history of filmmaking. In many movies filmed by Alfred Hitchcock can be observed something common, some elusive elements that unite these movies, make them unique, and allow distinguishing Hitchcocks pictures from the other directors films. All these factors compose the film directors authors style. His style is manifested in the fact that certain plot motives, the way of stuff presentation to the viewers, shooting techniques, acting types are frequently repeated in the pictures of him. Alfred Hitchcock is called a master of suspense, which is a growing tensed expectation, and this is not by coincidence. The suspense scenes are invariable attribute of the majority of his movies. He created them brilliantly using cinematic techniques like editing, the shooting angles, close-ups, unusual foreshortenings, etc. Thus Alfred Hitchcocks movies are based on suspense and fear. His characters are people got caught in the trap of circumstances, and the relationship of a man and a woman is a quite cynical view on the romance. His best movies were meticulously orchestrated nightmares of peril and pursuit relieved by unexpected comic ironies, absurdities and anomalies (Flint, 1980).

In the given work we are dealing with Rebecca which is considered to be one of the most remarkable movies filmed by this eminent film director. The plot of the movie is based on the eponymous book by Daphne du Maurier. A young nave girl (Joan Fontaine) gets acquainted with a wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) during her vacation at one of European resorts. Maxim makes this cute girl a proposal and takes her to his ancestral estate on the Cornish coast called Manderley. It is an old English castle that hides its own secrets. The fact is that several years ago previous lady de Winter died under mysterious circumstances and the servants especially Mrs Denvers still remember and love her. This bothers a new hostess estates a lot. Young lady de Winter gradually begins to lose her sense of selfidentification turning into her predecessor who as she thinks was deeply loved by her husband. But even she can not suspect what secrets she tries to affect and how lord de Winter treated his first wife in fact. In the course are weird keys, odd strangers, ambiguous words overheard accidentally until the secret is revealed. The distinctive feature of Rebecca is that it was the first movie filmed by Alfred Hitchcock when he started to appeal to the inner world of a character psychology, to develop deep and strongwilled characters as if changing the line of sight from external questions to internal responses. In the terms of stylistics special attention is paid to the decorations which visibly look artificially.

Even the castle and the garden around it are special layouts made purposely for this film. The movie Rebecca is not a typical work of the king of horror. Though Hitchcock did not change his way of transferring suspense and mystery, in the given picture both of these elements were minimized, but a thrilling detective and love stories come on the foreground. Particular emphasis was concentrated on the atmosphere of England of that time. This goal was achieved with a help of small details like china teacups, a perfectly-mannered butler, forged ornamental gates, and huge portraits of the ancestors on the walls. All these details catch the viewer attention at once. Hitchcock focused on the close-ups which perfectly highlighted the atmosphere of the movie attracting attention to the actors performing. Joan Fontaine perfectly coped with the role of shy insecure girl who lost herself in big rooms of Manderley. One of the greatest British actor Laurence Olivier performed Maxim de Winter. Like a genuine English aristocrat here he is a bit selfconfident and ironic with a dark charm. It is he who keeps the story line as the secrets of his past young lady de Winter will try to unravel. In Rebecca we meet one more great acting. This is a sinister housekeeper brilliantly performed by Judith Anderson. Her scary noiselessly moving figure completely dressed in black, impassive and cold glance, her unconcealed hatred towards a new hostess estates make viewers feel nervous every time she appears in the frame.

His first movie in the USA Alfred Hitchcock made absolutely unlike all other movies filmed by him. Here we can not see murders, constant growing of suspense and atmosphere of fear. As many people can say Hitchcock created a standard love story in which the heroine is madly in love with a rich protagonist who is trying to forget dark moments of his past that can overtake him any moment. Ever present negative womens characters are embodied in two forms. They are afterlife form represented by Rebecca who we will not see, but who we will know more than about any other character, and the mortal one personified in chilling image of the housekeeper. In spite of close interplay of drama, romance, comedy and partially mystery Alfred Hitchcock let the starring actors did their best. The other actors who performed minor characters also left vivid impression of their playing. During watching such classical retro movies we start involuntary compare them with modern ones. At the first sight in the old films can be clearly noticed moving screens with landscapes, moving way behind actors, or not very exact editing sealing. But here in technical terms all the advantages of the modern movies finish. The reason is obvious as nowadays film directors are unable to create a movie like Rebecca where a sacramental story is told with a dramatic irony. It can not be denied that none of up-to-date techniques can so precisely and skilfully depict a close, almost tangible presence of a omnipotent and scaring, beautiful and weird woman, the name of who is Rebecca.

References 1. Mogg, Ken. "Alfred Hitchcock". Senses of Cinema.

Sensesofcinema.com. Retrieved 18 July 2010. 2. Flint, P. Alfred Hitchcock Dies; A Master of Suspense. April 30, 1980. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com