My experience with classic movies is woefully limited- I enjoy Hitchcock, the occasional Billy Wilder and a handful of other older movies, but I have nowhere near the knowledge I would like. So, for that reason, I have decided to document my experience with classic movies by selecting a film released in each year starting with 1940!
Currently, I have seen four movies from 1940, so I've chosen to write about my favourite of those four- Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, which won the Best Picture Oscar for that year.
Rebecca is based on the novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, and is a mystery about a young woman (Joan Fontaine) who marries Max De Winter (Laurence Olivier), a rich and elusive widower. Over the course of their first year of marriage, she discovers that life at Manderly, the mansion at which they reside, will always be over-shadowed by the memory of the first Mrs De Winter, Rebecca, who tragically died years before.
Watching this movie for the first time, I was utterly gripped. I have a love for Agatha Christie novels and so Hitchock's work is generally right up my street. Having no knowledge of the source material, the twists in the story took me by surprise, and I felt as though I were uncovering the mystery along with Joan Fontaine, who plays the nameless protagonist with a purity, grace and charm that makes her a lovely main character. Though I read later that Laurence Olivier originally wanted to star along side his then-wife, Vivien Leigh (Gone With the Wind), his performance captures a sense of a pained past hidden behind his cool exterior, one which his new wife desperately tries to break through.
It is futile to say that Alfred Hitchcock is a master- it is a given that he is one of the most influential filmmakers to have ever lived. Though I prefer his work in Psycho, Rear Window and Notorious, only his adept touch could permeate this movie with a sense of building dread that captures the viewer and puts us in Fontaine's shoes. Perhaps the film is a tad too long, but all in all this is one of my favourite classic movies.
I recently discovered that there is another adaptation of Rebecca on the horizon, starring Lily James and Armie Hammer so I will be interested to see how director Ben Wheatley approaches the source material. I certainly do not envy his task with the legacy of Hitchock's Best Picture winning adaptation looming in our minds. However, I am still massively excited for a modern take on the story, and having no knowledge of the novel (though it's on my reading list), I am sure there are unexplored areas of the story that warrant the remake.
Thank you for reading this article- I am looking forward to covering the next few years of the '40s; funnily enough there are some years where I have seen absolutely no movies, and others (like 1940) where I have seen quite a few. If you have any recommendations for notable movies throughout the '40s and '50s, I would love to hear them.
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