In the late 1930s, with films like “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “The 39 Steps” and “The Lady Vanishes” having proven global hits, the New York Times wrote: “Three unique and valuable institutions the British have that we in America have not. Magna Carta, the Tower Bridge and Alfred Hitchcock, the greatest director of screen melodramas in the world.” And unsurprisingly, he came to the attention of Hollywood, with David O. Selznick signing the filmmaker to an exclusive contract, and bringing him over to direct “Rebecca.”
And over the next 35 years, Hitchcock produced almost a film per year, including a selection of thrillers that number among the finest ever made (including “Vertigo,” named by international critics this year as the greatest film ever). Becoming an icon thanks to his recognizable figure and high public profile, he produced and presented the long-running “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” which along with a long string of box office hits, made him one of the few filmmakers who was also a bona fide household name.
This period, starting with 1940’s Best Picture-winning “Rebecca,” saw Hitchcock nominated for five Best Director Academy Awards, but the filmmaker never won, bar the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in 1968. But it’s the quality of many of the films of his Hollywood years that lingers long past any awards. With a new Blu-ray box-set in stores this week, we’ve been looking at the directors’ career, and after examining his early silent and British films yesterday, we finish off today with the Hollywood era, from “Rebecca” in 1940 to “Family Plot” in 1976. Read on below. By the way, here’s part one of our Alfred Hitchcock retrospective.
“Rebecca” (1940)
Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier (she wrote the source material for “The Birds” and “Jamaica Inn”), Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” is a textbook and classic psychological drama that would go on to win the Best Picture Oscar in 1941. Starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier, “Rebecca” centers on an unnamed and naive heroine (Fontaine), who by chance, meets the aristocratic widower Maximilian de Winter (Olivier) in Monte Carlo and the two quickly fall in love. Maxim whisks her off to Manderlay, his large country estate in Cornwall, and all seems well, but the new Mrs. de Winter gets the cold, cold shoulder from the staff and servants who can’t seem to accept her, especially the head housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), who is particularly unpleasant and borderline sadistic. Having died under mysterious circumstances, the staff appears to have a strong loyalty to the former Mrs. de Winter (the titular Rebecca) and view this new girl as an interloper (her old bedroom is even preserved as a shrine). Exacerbating issues is Maxim, clearly still troubled from his deceased wife’s death and then his disappearance from the household on business, leaving the staff to mistreat the new Mrs. de Winter. And a full-fold conspiracy seems to be afoot. The evil Mrs. Danvers even suggests that the new bride should commit suicide and the slimey Jack (George Sanders), Rebecca’s cousin, goads Danvers in her persecution of the new Mrs. de Winter. Featuring ominous and creepy overtones, while “Rebecca” is a noir-thriller, it is at it’s core, a great drama (minus the police procedural section that bogs it down slightly) and Mrs. de Winter’s descent into near madness because of the maltreatment of the staff is expertly pitched. Hitchcock’s first U.S. production, the heavy hand of notorious meddler David O. Selznick loomed heavy over the film. While it drove control freak Hitchcock mad in his own right, the film’s masterfully sinister and shadowy tone earned the picture a total eleven Oscar nominations. [A]
Hitchcock Cameo: Two hours and six minutes in, walking past the phone booth.