Streaming Review: Rebecca (2020) - Netflix

A young newlywed arrives at her husband's imposing family estate on a windswept English coast and finds herself battling the shadow of his first wife, Rebecca, whose legacy lives on in the house long after her death. We review Ben Wheatley’s Rebecca (2020) available on Netflix.

Summary: After a whirlwind romance in Monte Carlo with handsome widower Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), a newly married young woman (Lily James) arrives at Manderley, her new husband's imposing family estate on a windswept English coast. Naive and inexperienced, she begins to settle into the trappings of her new life, but finds herself battling the shadow of Maxim's first wife, the elegant and urbane Rebecca, whose haunting legacy is kept alive by Manderley's sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas).

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Written and presented by Robin Bailes @robinbailes
Directed and Edited by Graham Trelfer
Lockdown Review S1E39
#HorrorMovieReview #DarkCornersReview #StreamingReview

[Aurora-fnbp]

You can not compare todays actors to the legends of the past.

[JamiJR]

The funny thing about "Don't remake Hitchcock" is that *Hitchcock* remade Hitchcock. Several of his most popular movies are actually remakes of movies he made earlier in his career.

[edisonlima]

Rebecca has such a complicated genesis!

Du Maurier's novel is a reimagining of Brazilian novel "The Successor", by writer Carolina Nabuco (which du Maurier unsuccessfully championed for publication in England before a final no from her editor led Du Maurier to give up and write her own version of the story).

But, funnily enough, Carolina Nabuco, by her turn, wrote "The Successor" as a kind of modernization of a 19th Century Romantic novel named "Incarnation", by fellow Brazilian José de Alencar, a very minor book by one of the most famous writers in Brazil.

Du Maurier's main inovations to the tale were heightening up Rebecca's true nature and having the governess (mrs.Danvers in her version) practically spell out what was just subtext in Nabuco's novel.

Which were wonderful choices and resulted in a novel rather more Gothic.

[skylx]

Oh. THAT Judith Anderson. If she wasn't trying to keep a reign on Anne Baxter flinging herself against every phallic stone pillar in The Ten Commandments then she was doing the 70s hippie thing as Buffalo Cow Head in A Man Called Horse. She was even a Vulcan high priestess in Star Strek III:The Search for Spock.

I love this woman.

[CinnamonGrrlErin]

Daphne DuMaurier wrote so many stories, I wish they at least go with one of those instead of remaking an already perfectly good movie. "Rebecca" isn't even her strongest work, although I do like it a lot. Personally, I think she's one of those authors who's best work is short stories (same with Neil Gaiman and Stephen King). "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now" are both adaptations of her work.

[LightningRoundst]

C'mon. No one, and I mean NO ONE, can come close to Judith Anderson's Mrs. Danvers. Hitchcock had her never walk--she appeared to float because he had her on a trolly of sorts. I like Kristin Scott Thomas and think she's very talented. But Judith Anderson's portray still terrifies 80 years later.

[oliviac]

Thanks for watching it so I don’t have to! Hitchcock is classic and I agree with not messing with the greats

[MrTBoneSF]

Although for such a "rule", Hitchcock is probably the director whose work has been remade the most. We've had Rear Window, Psycho, Rebecca, The Lady Vanishes, Suspicion, and Dial M for Murder. Plus Hitchcock himself remade his own movies "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "Saboteur".

[rusty]

Thanks for another great review dark corners!!

[buzzawuzza]

The Hitchcock version has a nice creepiness to it and it looks like this one does too so it's all good. I like creepy thrillers better than dopey gore films anytime.

[GrandOldMovies]

Apparently Rebecca was not one of Hitchcock's favorite filmmaking experiences---due in large part to his dealings with the film's producer David O. Selznick, who was notorious for his obsessive control over his productions (which included directors). Hitchcock also thought the film followed Du Maurier's novel too slavishly (which was again due to Selznick). A not-bad British TV miniseries was made from this novel in the late 1970s, with Jeremy Brett as Maxim DeWinter and Anna Massey as Mrs. Danvers. I'd be curious to see this new version, to see how it's reimagined for this era.

[gatoelurso]

I was struck that some of the sets looked like duplicates of the sets from the Hitchcock film. Especially the beach cottage where Mrs. deWinter encounters the local lunatic.

[lencey]

I’m always terrified when I see things like these come out — for some reason it just fills me with inexplicable terror, I suppose that something (particularly something as iconic as a Du Maurier story or a Hitchcock) might end up being remembered for a lesser version of itself, because the wider audience might only see the modern one and never truly appreciate it. I’m glad it’s now awful, but it still scares me somehow...

[daffyphack]

I gotta admit that I chuckled at "Armie Hammer is not Laurence Olivier."

[RavenHouseMystery]

There's nothing wrong with trying to remake a Hitchcock film. Yet, it does hint at the notion that Hollywood filmmakers have nothing original to offer.

[kali]

Truthfully, I haven't found one role that I thought Armie Hammer added anything to it. His Lone Ranger was overshadowed by Jonny Depp's overacting, and his turn as Illya Kuriyakin only reminded me how wonderful David McCallum was.

Seeing the second Mrs DeWinter with blonde hair is a little odd too.

I think the issue is you have to maintain the tension once all the secrets start being revealed. Hitchcock was a master at this. Not having seen the film (and having dropped Netflix after the Cuties debacle), I will probably have to reserve final judgment here.

[drdarkeny]

I think the biggest problem I had is that I adore Lily James so much, and because of that she's totally the wrong choice for the main female character. She seems too smart and self-possessed to get herself into a mess like this one.

[georger]

They must have dug deep into the barrel of films not needing a remake.

[nickmitsialis]

Did you say Armie Hammer lacked Olivier's intensity? How could it NOT be so? This is Sir Lawrence We're talking about, after all...The Man who first released The Kraken, who Inspired those Happy Few, who narrated the destruction of Ourador sur Glane on "World At War". There is an exponential factor of difference between those two.

[jameslovell]

My thoughts?...Armie Hammer was turgid in this, as he is in everything. Lily James was very good, but her character wearing trousers for so much of it just jarred. The camera work was awful. Buy a tripod, Hollywood!