Trivia
The first film Alfred Hitchcock made in Hollywood and the only one that won a Best Picture Oscar.
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Alfred Hitchcock wanted to make this film several years before but was unable to afford the rights to the novel.
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Mrs. Danvers is hardly ever seen walking; she seems to glide. Alfred Hitchcock wanted her to be seen solely from Joan Fontaine's character's anxious point of view, and this effect tied in with her fear about Mrs. Danvers appearing anytime unexpectedly.
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Just as in the original novel, Mrs. de Winter has no first name.
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Over 20 actresses were tested for the role of Mrs. de Winter, which eventually went to newcomer Joan Fontaine. One of them was Vivien Leigh, who Laurence Olivier was pressing for, as they were a couple at the time.
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This was Alfred Hitchcock's second film based on a Daphne Du Maurier novel (the first was Jamaica Inn)
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The original script named the heroine "Daphne" after the writer Daphne Du Maurier. David O. Selznick objected and the name was not used.
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Despite scouring most of America, and New England in particular, David O. Selznick was unable to find a suitable location to represent Manderley, so he had to resort to a miniature instead, albeit a highly convincing one.
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In her autobiography, Maureen O'Hara states that she was the first choice for the lead role.
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Rebecca's handwriting was done by Helen Amigo.
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The novel was bought by David O. Selznick for $50,000 as a vehicle for Carole Lombard with the idea that he would attempt to get Ronald Colman for the male lead. According to Selznick's memos, when Colman put off accepting the part because he was afraid that the picture would be a "woman starring vehicle" and because of the murder angle, Selznick turned to his second choices for the role, Laurence Olivier and William Powell. Olivier was willing to work for $100,000 less than Powell and so he was chosen. Leslie Howard was also considered for the part.
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In 1944, Edwina Levin MacDonald sued David O. Selznick, Daphne Du Maurier, United Artists and Doubleday for plagiarism. She claimed that the film was based on her novel "Blind Windows", and sought an undisclosed amount of damages.
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Anne Baxter was one of the actresses tested by Alfred Hitchcock for the leading role. He later cast her in I Confess.
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Because Laurence Olivier wanted his then-girlfriend Vivien Leigh to play the lead role, he treated Joan Fontaine horribly. This shook Fontaine up quite a bit, so Alfred Hitchcock decided to capitalize on this by telling her EVERYONE on the set hated her, thus making her shy and uneasy - just what he wanted from her performance.
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This was the first film Alfred Hitchcock made with David O. Selznick. Hitchcock worked with screenwriter Robert E. Sherwood and Hitchcock's assistant Joan Harrison in the scripting process. But he was dissatisfied almost from the beginning of the shoot with Selznick's controlling - some called it obsessive - manner of "producing".
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David O. Selznick wanted Olivia de Havilland to play the female lead, but was faced with insurmountable problems: she was already committed to Samuel Goldwyn for Raffles, Warner Bros. was being uncooperative about lending her out, and she was reluctant to accept the part because her sister, Joan Fontaine, was also under consideration for the part and her agent, Leland Hayward, was promoting his wife, Margaret Sullavan, for the role. Selznick also considered Loretta Young, Vivien Leigh, Anita Louise and Anne Baxter for the role, but felt that Young and Leigh were the wrong "type." He finally settled on Fontaine, but his staff disagreed with his decision because she was not yet an established star.
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Due to the success of this film in Spain, the specific jackets that Joan Fontaine wears during the film began to be known as "rebecas". The word "rebeca" is still used nowadays to refer to this item of clothing.
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In order to maintain the dark atmosphere of the book, Alfred Hitchcock insisted that the film be shot in black and white.
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Adaptation for the movie by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan is based on the treatment written by Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Reville and Hogan.
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Robert Donat was one of Alfred Hitchcock's choices for the character Maxim de Winter.
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In the scripting process, Alfred Hitchcock made lots of changes with the novel's character "Mrs. Danvers." Hitchcock made her much younger and did not reveal her past.
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Alfred Hitchcock and cinematographer George Barnes used a technique known as "deep focus photography" in this film. This is one of the few films to use that technique before Citizen Kane. Hitchcock had also used it in his film When Boys Leave Home.
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"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on November 6, 1950 with Laurence Olivier reprising his film role.
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"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 31, 1943 with Joan Fontaine reprising her film role.
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Alfred Hitchcock chose very carefully the right lettering for the right characters, if we have to watch a handwriting analysis of the several letters shown in the movie: -Mrs. Van Hooper is authoritative (large T bars), sexually stimulated (thick Y and F loops), obsessive (loopholes in E and N), unwilling to being commanded (Independence loophole in P), and rude (thick tracks in general). -Maxim is very reflexive (large inter-word spacing), reserved (large inter-line spacing) and self-underrated (T bars very low). -Favell is self-overrated, brutal and impulsive (big R, Brutality loophole, short inter-word spacing). (According to the Marchesan Handwriting Analysis Method).
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As per Alfred Hitchcock's instructions, Judith Anderson plays Mrs. Danvers while rarely blinking her eyes.
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Alfred Hitchcock agreed to test Joan Fontaine only after seeing her play the meek wife in The Women.
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First shown on network television years after having been telecast only by local affiliate television stations.
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Director Cameo
Alfred Hitchcock:
walking past a phone booth just after Jack Favell (George Sanders) makes a call in the final part of the movie. There are photos showing Hitchcock standing beside the phone booth looking at Mr Sanders. Actually the scene isn't played that way and you have to be quick spotting Hitchcock, quickly passing by in the background while Sanders is discussing a parking matter with a police man. Sanders having only been seen in close up while talking on the phone.
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Spoilers
The trivia items below may give away important plot points.
David O. Selznick wanted the smoke from the burning Manderley to spell out a huge R. Alfred Hitchcock thought the touch lacked any subtlety. When Selznick was preoccupied by Gone with the Wind, Hitchcock was able to replace the smoky R with the burning of a monogrammed lingerie case. He also edited the picture in the camera, a method of filmmaking that didn't allow Selznick the opportunity to re-edit the picture.
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Unlike the novel, Alfred Hitchcock added the film projector sequence in the film where Maxim and Mrs. Second de Winter see their honeymoon days.
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Although Producer David O. Selznick wanted this film to stay faithful to the novel, Alfred Hitchcock made several changes in this film to increase the mystery and the suspense. In the novel, Mrs. Danvers is the mother figure who raised Rebecca from youth, is the source of the evil that existed in Rebecca. In the film Mrs. Danvers is much younger and her past isn't revealed, while Rebecca is "the source of evil that exists in Mrs. Danvers." The film added the raining right before entering Maxim's home Manderley and meeting Mrs. Danvers. The raining made the Second Mrs. cold and shivering when she meets Mrs. Danvers. In the novel, the Second Mrs. travels with Maxim to London to meet Dr. Baker. In order to increase the tension and the suspense in the film, Hitchcock let Second Mrs. stay at Manderley instead of traveling with Maxim de Winter to meet Dr. Baker (Leo G. Carroll). Instead of Second Mrs., Frank Crawley travels with Maxim de Winter to London to meet Dr. Baker in the film. In the novel, Second Mrs. is the one who is having an uncomfortable feeling while traveling back to Manderley with Maxim in the end. But in the film, Maxim de Winter is the one who is having the uncomfortable feeling while driving back to Manderley where Second Mrs. is waiting. In the novel, it is uncertain what happened to Mrs. Danvers in the end. But in the film, Mrs. Danvers is destroyed along with Manderley at the end.
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Rebecca (1940)
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