Mousy Rebecca (David) meets tall, handsome, rich stranger (Brett) and is -- for some reason -- swept off her feet by him. He owns one of those stately mansions with a name -- Manderly. He's mysterious too. There are long pauses while he gazes dreamily into empty space. And he's commanding, from big things to small, even when they've just met. About her life course so far: "You're making a mistake." About daffodils: "One should never pick wildflowers." If any shy, plain, disenfranchised young lady is looking for a Sugar Daddy, just apply here. Please use phone because this is only the 1940s. Ask for Daphne.
Rebecca and Maxime de Winter meet at one of those fancy hotels on the Rivera. Rebecca is harnessed to a vulgar American dowager as a female traveling companion. The earlier scenes might look and sound familiar. The TV film opens with the same line as Hitchock's movie, and the same as the novel, I imagine -- "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderly." And Mrs. van Hopper stubs out her cigarette in the cold cream. While the mountainous Ugly American is laid up with the flu, Rebecca and Max use the holiday to drive around the looping roads of the Alps Maritime, having lunches together, getting to know one another. Not that Max is seductive in any way. He rarely smiles or flatters her but at least he treats her as something better than a complete vacuum. Still, the opulence and beauty of the milieu itself encourages romance, especially with Claire de Lune in the background. It's a very pretty place if you have the money. I stayed at what was then the Ritz Carlton Hotel. For about five minutes, just glancing around the lobby.
Then the pace becomes rushed. Mrs. van Grof intends to leave at once for New York, taking Rebecca with her. I know the matron's name is van Horn but this sounds more apt. Well, it puts Rebecca in a bind because she's in Max's thrall. Max solves the problem by marrying her and whisking her away to Manderly on the Cornish coast, an estate roughly the size of Greenland.
They are greeted by a polite and accommodating staff of a few dozen people and Rebecca is introduced to the Headmistress. Mrs. Danvers extends an icy hand in greeting. She's play by Anna Massey, whose hair has been swept back by makeups to emphasize Massy's pointed nose and receding chin, lending her features an openly hostile look and a resemblance to those of some sort of demonic meerkat.
Everyone's performances so far have been at least adequate and the locations are inviting. The photography is a bit flat and colorless -- considering all the color -- but the thing shows promise. Let the thing proceed.
Rebecca and Maxime de Winter meet at one of those fancy hotels on the Rivera. Rebecca is harnessed to a vulgar American dowager as a female traveling companion. The earlier scenes might look and sound familiar. The TV film opens with the same line as Hitchock's movie, and the same as the novel, I imagine -- "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderly." And Mrs. van Hopper stubs out her cigarette in the cold cream. While the mountainous Ugly American is laid up with the flu, Rebecca and Max use the holiday to drive around the looping roads of the Alps Maritime, having lunches together, getting to know one another. Not that Max is seductive in any way. He rarely smiles or flatters her but at least he treats her as something better than a complete vacuum. Still, the opulence and beauty of the milieu itself encourages romance, especially with Claire de Lune in the background. It's a very pretty place if you have the money. I stayed at what was then the Ritz Carlton Hotel. For about five minutes, just glancing around the lobby.
Then the pace becomes rushed. Mrs. van Grof intends to leave at once for New York, taking Rebecca with her. I know the matron's name is van Horn but this sounds more apt. Well, it puts Rebecca in a bind because she's in Max's thrall. Max solves the problem by marrying her and whisking her away to Manderly on the Cornish coast, an estate roughly the size of Greenland.
They are greeted by a polite and accommodating staff of a few dozen people and Rebecca is introduced to the Headmistress. Mrs. Danvers extends an icy hand in greeting. She's play by Anna Massey, whose hair has been swept back by makeups to emphasize Massy's pointed nose and receding chin, lending her features an openly hostile look and a resemblance to those of some sort of demonic meerkat.
Everyone's performances so far have been at least adequate and the locations are inviting. The photography is a bit flat and colorless -- considering all the color -- but the thing shows promise. Let the thing proceed.