Rebecca (1940)
#23 on my Top 100 List
Just one year after Laurence Olivier played Heathcliffe, he returned to play another dark literary character - but his Maxim de Winter is much more tragically sympathetic than Heathcliffe. Poor Maxim, just like everyone else in the film, is haunted by the memory of his dead wife Rebecca. Though she's never seen even in pictures, Rebecca is as much as character as anyone else in the film - maybe more. She and the estate Manderley form an atmosphere so foreboding that not even the unnamed narrator is able to be comfortable there. The creepy housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, certainly doesn't help, as she is one of the greatest subtle and understated villains in cinema. This was Hitchcock's first American film - and his only to win Best Picture - and his career only went upward from there.
My Netflix rating: 5 stars
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