Thoughts on Rebecca (1940) · 4:06am Feb 12th, 2019
So a few days ago, I watched Rebecca.
And it was pretty good.
This was apparently Alfred Hitchcock's first movie in the United States, and it kind of shows. Most notably with the music. I've learned that, at least in that time, British movies and American movies were very different in terms of attitudes towards music––in British movies, the music was almost never there, and when it showed up, that meant the scene was important. And vice versa for American movies. And this shows quite a bit; the music is definitely there and it only goes away during intense parts.
The movie was certainly interesting overall. I liked the characters quite a bit because they were very different from one another and interacted weirdly. And the personalities were good too; I did not see the twist coming in the plot. The characters had some qualities that made it somewhat of an interesting character study; not only for 1940 but also for today.
The acting was very good as usual and the camera and lighting were effective, as they have been with Hitchcock movies. The plot, for the most part, moved at a reasonably steady pace. The only thing I really didn't like was how it seemed to drag on for the first part of the movie. It seemed to take forever to get anywhere. But that problem didn't last.
And I have one more personal gripe. Perhaps it's because I'm burned out on Hitchcock movies or I'm feeling depressed or something, but this movie was not very memorable to me. It's good, for sure, it just doesn't stack up to the other ones I've seen so far in that big of a way. There were big things that made me enjoy the other ones more (save for Sabotage). This didn't really have much.
But still. It's a good movie, and it's worth watching at some point. I know I spent that last paragraph complaining about how unmemorable I found it, but don't let my personal biases stop you from seeing this. It's not my favorite, and I wouldn't start with it, but it's a good movie nonetheless and I'm giving this one an eight out of ten.
