Alfred Hitchcock at his best, this 1940 Gothic horror based on Daphne du Maurier’s novel, stars Lawrence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, and Judith Anderson as the sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. Rebecca won the 1940 Academy Award as did her producer David O. Selznick who had won the award the previous year for Gone with the Wind. In keeping with the Gothic genre, there is an English estate with a name, Manderley, and it is haunted of course by the former wife. Drop in the young and naive, American second wife, and what do you get: The princess dream come true? Nope, not a bit of it! Rebecca is Gothic from start to finish. I’ve watched this film many a time and it never ceases to impress.
Yes, the star is a ghost both in the movie and in the mind continuing to haunt those who dare to watch the film.
What I like about this movie: the lead female role has no name and the woman who the movie is named after has no role.