Manderlay, Xanadu, and Fort Awesome
It’s saturday, and the Seed and I sitting in the dinner having breakfast. It’s bacon, eggs, coffee, and corn beef hash. We wonder if this will upset our stomach or make us have to use the bathroom before seeing the Hitchcock flick, Rebecca, down at the Charles. It’s from 1940 with Joan Fontaine and Sir Lawrence Olivier, and it’s an early Hitchcock from his move to Hollywood.
Joan Fontaine plays the second Mrs. de Winter married to Olivier’s Maxim de Winter brooding over the recent death of his wife. She stops him from jumping to his death in Monte Carlo. They meet cute later on and begin a romance. She falls for him, because of his worldly airs. She was as meek as a librarian, and she desperately needs him. He accepts her love, brings her to Manderlay, and lets her run the house. At Manderlay, she meets the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers who adored Mrs. de Winters I and loathes the second Mrs. de Winters. They test their strength of wills until the second Mrs. de Winters, defeated, makes it known that she’s now boss of the house. She overcomes Mrs. Danvers, learns of the reason for the first Mrs. de Winters death, and lives to relieve her husband of the guilt he felt over her death.
Joan Fontaine is cute in this one. She’s always cute (I find her irresistable in her next Hitchcock role in Suscpicion). I feel that she’s the ur-Hitchcock blonde, the original that gives meaning to the rest. She’s unlike the rest of the blondes in Hitchock’s oevre. She’s somewhat different because of her mousiness. I describe her as a librarian more so in Suspicion with her glasses. It’s something to think about as she’s occupies the place of Hitchcock blondes like Buffalo Bill’s original victim close to giving an insight to the director.
I didn’t think too much of this film when I saw it on DVD. Good but not as awesome as the director’s best. I think the ambiance of the Charles makes a difference in the viewing experience. You see it with lots of people. It becomes fun. And the film becomes even more better. I want to see more Hitchcock at the Charles.
4 of 5 stars.
3 Replies to “Manderlay, Xanadu, and Fort Awesome”
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Joan Fontaine in a tennis outfit is quite sexy.
Elisha Cuthbert should do a 1940’s film in a tennis outfit.
Elisha – Joan
i was waiting for Rebecca but well, things happen the way they are. i wanted to see the shore part where they were getting to spill the secrets, where the suspicion on deWinters was trying to build up.
“Rebecca” is one of my favorite books of all time. I still remember the opening line…”Last night I dreamt I was at Manderly.” What a great book. It must have been fun- watching it at the Charles…