Rebecca (1940 film)

Rebecca
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by
Adaptation by
Based onRebecca
by Daphne du Maurier
Produced byDavid O. Selznick
Starring
CinematographyGeorge Barnes
Edited byHal C. Kern
James E. Newcom
Music byFranz Waxman
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • March 21, 1940 (1940-03-21) (Miami)
  • April 12, 1940 (1940-04-12) (United States)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.29 million[1]
Box office$6 million[1]

Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock's first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.

The film stars Laurence Olivier as the brooding, aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as the young, never-named woman who becomes his second wife, with Judith Anderson, George Sanders and Gladys Cooper in supporting roles. The film is a gothic tale shot in black-and-white. Maxim de Winter's first wife Rebecca, who died before the events of the film, is never seen. Her reputation and recollections of her, however, are a constant presence in the lives of Maxim, his new wife and the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.

Rebecca was theatrically released on April 12, 1940, to critical and commercial success. It received eleven nominations at the 13th Academy Awards, more than any other film that year. It won two awards; Best Picture, and Best Cinematography, becoming the only film directed by Hitchcock to win the former award. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

  1. ^ a b Box Office Information for Rebecca. The Numbers. Retrieved January 30, 2013.