A Writers View

“…that’s for the 2nd Mrs. De Winter!”

I just watched the 1940s Alfred Hitchcock version of Rebecca (after being amused by Michell and Webb’s, a British comedy duo, parody skit of the film – which can be found on YouTube) starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine and let me just say I LOVED IT!!!

I want to make this a proper review, but I don’t really know how to do that just yet. So, I think, if it’s alright with all of you, that I’m just going to rave and ramble a bit about what I liked most and my thoughts and such.

Firstly, I loved the romance between Mr. Olivier and Ms. Fontaine! Ms. Fontaine’s character, the 2nd Mrs. De Winter, made me IMMEDIATELY think of Bella Swan from Twilight. She was clumsy and simple and plain and totally did not believe that anyone could actually like her, especially not an amazing man like Mr. De Winter. Just like Bella.

In fact, there were more than a couple of scenes of the 2nd Mrs. De Winter knocking things over or clumsily bumping into doors or breaking things. It was actually one of the things that lead to their first luncheon date (she spilled a vase of flowers on her table at the hotel which made him notice her and go over to invite her to his table) that cascaded into their whirlwind week of romance! ❤

I am very convinced that Bella Swan was hugely inspired by the 2nd Mrs. De Winters. We know that Jane Eyre, which Joan Fontaine also starred in, was a point of inspiration to Stephanie Meyer and honestly the three characters, at least in they way they view themselves, are very similar. They’re just your average plain, simple, normal, clumsy (except Jane wasn’t very clumsy) girl that falls in love with the moody and broody older man.

But all of this only takes us through the first 30 or so minutes of the film. Once we get to the house, Manderely, much like Thornfield Hall, the place is full of restricted sections, questionable staff, and secrets. Most of the staff are happy to welcome their new mistress, even though she herself feels awkward about all of it, except for the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. I feel like housekeepers, in theory, should be great! But unfortunately, more often then not in these old tales, they are far from it. Oh sure, they act like they’re helping, giving you invaluable information, etc, etc, but in actuality they’re hoping that you choke on a lemon and die.

Mrs. Danvers reminded me of old Miss Holloway from the 1944 version of The Uninvited. If you know, you know. And if you don’t know, then you really should go and watch The Uninvited, it’s a really scary ghost movie starring Ray Milland that kept me awake for ages as a little kid. Now, it still gives me the spooks but I love it!

Mrs. Danvers does not do much to help her new mistress at all – in fact she does her very best to get rid of the 2nd Mrs. De Winters and let’s just say that her and Bertha Mason had similar ideas and leave it at that.

I really don’t want to give away too much of the film anymore (even though it came out 81 years ago {that’s right 81 years ago!!}) so I’ll just wrap it up by saying…

I loved the lighting, the framing, the acting, the writing, the setting and the ending.

And I want to compliment Twilight for using classics such as Rebecca and Jane Eyre for its model. I now know that the major thing missing from the first Twilight book (and indeed the whole series) was an old, grand, spooky mansion. Because sure, the Cullen house was nice, but Manderely and Thornfield Hall it was not.