Rebecca(1940).

Rebecca (1940). Psychological/dramatic/thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson. The film won two Academy Awards, including Best Picture, out of a total 11 nominations. Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson were all Oscar nominated for their roles. Since the introduction of awards for actors in supporting roles, this is the only film named Best Picture that won no other Academy Award for acting, directing or writing.

Maxim de Winter, is vacationing in Monte Carlo, trying to forget the drowning death of his wife Rebecca. He meets and begins dating the shy and plain paid companion of a matronly socialite. She is thrilled when Maxim asks her to be his wife.

The new Mrs de Winter happiness quickly comes to a end when Maxim takes her to his beautiful seaside estate, Manderley. There she is tormented by the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, who continually reminds her of the great beauty of the first Mrs. de Winter and she also tries talking her into leaping to her death.

The new Mrs de Winter, believes that Maxim is still in love with "Rebecca". Trying to please her husband Mrs de Winter convinces Maxim to hold a costume party. While deciding what to wear, Mrs Danvers suggests she copy the beautiful outfit in the portrait of Caroline de Winter. As she is coming down the stairs at the party making her grand entrance, Maxim sees her dress and is appalled. It turns out... "Rebecca" wore the same outfit to a ball, shortly before she died. When the new Mrs de Winter confronts Danvers, she tells her she can never take Rebecca's place.

When a boat is wrecked off shore and during the rescue, another submerged boat is found in which the body of Rebecca is found. Maxim then confesses the true story of his marriage to Rebecca:

After four days of marriage, Rebecca began sharing her infidelities. Heartbroken but proud, Maxim continued on with his marriage, until she informed Maxim that she was going to have a baby and he was not the father. Maxim hit Rebecca and she fell, hitting her head. He then placed her body in a boat and sunk it. Things do not look good for Maxim until a surprise twist at the end.

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Fun Facts:

Mrs. Danvers is hardly ever seen walking; she seems to glide. Alfred Hitchcock wanted her to be seen solely from Joan Fontaine's character's anxious point of view, and this effect tied in with her fear about Mrs. Danvers appearing anytime unexpectedly.

Over 20 actresses were tested for the role of Mrs. de Winter, which eventually went to newcomer Joan Fontaine. One of them was Vivien Leigh, who Laurence Olivier was pressing for, as they were a couple at the time.

Despite scouring most of America, and New England in particular, David O. Selznick was unable to find a suitable location to represent Manderley, so he had to resort to a miniature instead.

In her autobiography, Maureen O'Hara states that she was the first choice for the lead role.

The novel was bought by David O. Selznick for $50,000 as a vehicle for Carole Lombard with the idea that he would attempt to get Ronald Colman for the male lead. According to Selznick's memos, when Colman put off accepting the part because he was afraid that the picture would be a "woman starring vehicle" and because of the murder angle, Selznick turned to his second choices for the role, Laurence Olivier and William Powell. Olivier was willing to work for $100,000 less than Powell and so he was chosen. Leslie Howard was also considered for the part.

Anne Baxter was one of the actresses tested by Alfred Hitchcock for the leading role. He later cast her in I Confess.

Because Laurence Olivier wanted his then-girlfriend Vivien Leigh to play the lead role, he treated Joan Fontaine horribly. This shook Fontaine up quite a bit, so Alfred Hitchcock decided to capitalize on this by telling her EVERYONE on the set hated her, thus making her shy and uneasy - just what he wanted from her performance.

David O. Selznick wanted Olivia de Havilland to play the female lead, but was faced with insurmountable problems: she was already committed to Samuel Goldwyn for Raffles, Warner Bros. was being uncooperative about lending her out, and she was reluctant to accept the part because her sister, Joan Fontaine, was also under consideration for the part and her agent, Leland Hayward, was promoting his wife, Margaret Sullavan, for the role. Selznick also considered Loretta Young, Vivien Leigh, Anita Louise and Anne Baxter for the role, but felt that Young and Leigh were the wrong "type." He finally settled on Fontaine, but his staff disagreed with his decision because she was not yet an established star.

Director Cameo:  Alfred Hitchcock: walking past a phone booth just after Jack Favell (George Sanders) makes a call in the final part of the movie. There are photos showing Hitchcock standing beside the phone booth looking at Mr Sanders. Actually the scene isn't played that way and you have to be quick spotting Hitchcock, quickly passing by in the background while Sanders is discussing a parking matter with a police man. Sanders having only been seen in close up while talking on the phone.

I love all the surprising plot twists and turns and the amazing cast. Even the supporting cast was amazing, especially the creepy Mrs. Danvers.  "Rebecca," is one of the best Hitchcock movies ever made. One thing that surprises me is.. I do not think the movie ever mentions Joan Fontaine's characters name. Even the house seems creepy..

Nigel Bruce (4 February 1895 – 8 October 1953), began his acting career by performing on stage and later performing in silent films.

In 1934, he moved to Hollywood, where he typically played buffoonish, fuzzy-minded gentlemen. During his film career, he worked in 78 films, including: Treasure Island (1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Lassie Come Home (1943) The Corn Is Green (1945).


Bruce participated in two landmark films: Becky Sharp and Bwana Devil.

He uncharacteristically played a bad guy in, The Rains Came(1939) which became the first film to win an Oscar for special effects.

Bruce's best known character was as Dr. Watson in the 1939-1946 Sherlock Holmes film series with close friend Basil Rathbone as Holmes. Bruce starred as Watson in all 14 films of the series and over 200 radio programs of The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Although Watson often appears to be the older of the two main characters, Bruce was actually three years younger than his co-star Rathbone.

Nigel Bruce was married from 1921 until his death to British actress Violet Campbell (Violet Pauline Shelton; 1892–1970) whom he always lovingly called "Bunny", they had two daughters, Jennifer and Pauline.

His final film, World for Ransom, was released posthumously in 1954. Bruce died from a heart attack at the  age of 58.

Pride and Prejudice(1940).

A film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. Robert Z. Leonard directed. Cast: Greer Garson, Mary Boland, Maureen O'Sullivan.

The film begins when the girls are out shopping for new dresses when they see two gentlemen and a lady in a beautiful carriage. They learn that the men are Mr. Bingley, who is renting the estate of Netherfield and Mr. Darcy, both wealthy, eligible bachelors.

After the Bennets return home, Mrs. Bennet tries to talk Mr. Bennet, into seeing Mr. Bingley, but he refuses, saying that they have already met.

At the ball, Elizabeth overhears Mr. Darcy talking about not wanting to dance with her. She also meets for the first time Mr. Wickham.

Later, as it turns out.. Mr. Darcy does ask her to dance, but she refuses, when Mr. Wickham asks her right in front of Darcy, she accepts.

 

The Bennets' cousin, Mr. Collins, arrives, looking for a wife and sets his sights on Elizabeth. Mr. Darcy, sees her distress and asks her to dance. After seeing the obnoxious behavior of her mother and younger sisters, he leaves again.

The next day, Mr. Collins asks her to marry him, but she refuses. He then asks her best friend, Charlotte Lucas, to marry him.

When Elizabeth visits Charlotte in her new home, she is introduced to Lady Catherine de Bourgh and also sees Mr. Darcy there.

Later, he asks her to marry him, because she believes he stole Wickham's fortune and also because he broke up the romance between Mr. Bingley and Jane, she refuses.

When Elizabeth returns to Longborn, she learns that Lydia has eloped with Wickham. Mr. Darcy tells her that Wickham will never marry Lydia and that Wickham had tried to elope with his 15-year-old sister, Georgiana.

Elizabeth, soon realizes that she is in love with him, but believes he will never see her again because of Lydia's disgraceful elopement. Lydia and Wickham, do return home married. Lady Catherine, tells the family that Mr. Darcy found Lydia and forced Wickham to marry her. Will Darcy and Elizabeth ever admit their love for each other?

Greer Garson, did a wonderful job playing the feisty, high spirited.. Elizabeth. In this light and humorous classic film adaptation. Laurence Olivier, performed well as the prideful Darcy. The supporting cast also is good, especially Edmund Gwenn, as the very eccentric Mr. Bennet.

 Fun Facts:

The studio's first choice for Darcy was Clark Gable.

Vivien Leigh was passed over for the role of Elizabeth Bennett in favor of Greer Garson.

According to Edward Maeder, Adrian, the costume designer, asked director Robert Z. Leonard to place the film in a later time period than that of the novel so that the costumes might be more opulent than those of Jane Austen's time.

Initially scheduled to start pre-production in 1936, under the supervision of Irving Thalberg with his wife, Norma Shearer as Elizabeth Bennett, but pre-production was put to a halt after Thalberg's death.

MGM considered Robert Donat and Robert Taylor to play Mr. Darcy, and Norma Shearer supposedly wanted MGM to borrow Errol Flynn from Warner Bros. for the role.

Laurence Olivier ( 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) career as a stage and film actor spanned more than six decades and included a wide variety of roles: Shakespeare's Othello and Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night to the sadistic Nazi dentist Christian Szell in Marathon Man and the Nazi-hunter in The Boys from Brazil.

A High church clergyman's son who found fame on the West End stage, Olivier became determined early on to master Shakespeare, and eventually came to be regarded as one of the foremost Shakespeare interpreters of the 20th century. He continued to act until the year before his death in 1989.

Olivier played more than 120 stage roles: Richard III, Macbeth, Romeo, Hamlet, Othello, Uncle Vanya, and Archie Rice in The Entertainer.

 He performed in nearly sixty films, including: William Wyler's Wuthering Heights, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus, Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake Is Missing, Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War, and A Bridge Too Far, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Sleuth, John Schlesinger's Marathon Man, Daniel Petrie's The Betsy, Desmond Davis' Clash of the Titans, and his own Henry V, Hamlet, and Richard III.

He also preserved his Othello on film, with its stage cast virtually intact. For television, he starred in The Moon and Sixpence, John Gabriel Borkman, Long Day's Journey into Night, Brideshead Revisited, The Merchant of Venice, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and King Lear, among others.

The Divorce of Lady X (1938).

 

The Divorce of Lady X (1938). A British romantic comedy film directed by Tim Whelan. The music score was by Miklós Rózsa and Lionel Salter and the cinematography by Harry Stradling. Cast: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Binnie Barnes. The film was a remake of the 1933 film, Counsel's Opinion, also made by London Films and in which Binnie Barnes performed in the role played by Merle Oberon.

Because of the thick fog, London barrister Everard Logan, decides to spend the night in the Royal Park hotel. Before he knows it .. Leslie Steele, another one of the guests, tricks him into giving her both the bedroom and his pajamas. By the next morning, Logan, has fallen in love with Leslie even though he mistakenly thinks that she is a married woman.

At home, Leslie, tells her  grandfather judge Lord Steele that she wants to marry Logan, even though he thinks she is an  unfaithful wife.

Later, Logan is visited by Lord  Mere, who tells him that his wife spent the night at the Royal Park hotel with another man, and wants Logan to begin divorce proceedings. Logan believes that Leslie is Lady Mere, and tries to convince Lord Mere not to start divorce proceedings, while trying to hide the fact he thinks he is the "other man" and that's when the fun begins.



Lawrence Olivier and Merle Oberon did two movies together: WUTHERING HEIGHTS and THE DIVORCE OF LADY X.

I loved the witty banter between Olivier and Oberon, and even the playful back and forth between Morton Selten as Lord Steele and H.B. Hallam as his butler, Jeffries. Binnie Barnes, was perfect as Lady Mere.

Binnie Barnes (25 May 1903 – 27 July 1998), She began her acting career in films in 1923, performing in a short film made by Lee De Forest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Her film career continued in Britain, then in Hollywood, until 1973, with her final role in the comedy, 40 Carats. She is best known for her performance, The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), starring Charles Laughton in the title role, with Barnes as Katherine Howard.

Great On Screen Couples: Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier.

Laurence Olivier first met Vivien Leigh after her performance in, The Mask of Virtue(1936)and they quickly became friends. They made only three films together, but Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier worked together many times if you include their stage performances.

The first film that Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, performed together in was, Fire Over England (1937). A London Film Productions film drama, directed by William K. Howard and written by Clemence Dane from the novel Fire Over England by A. E. W. Mason. Leigh's performance in the movie helped to convince David O. Selznick to cast her as Scarlett O'Hara, in the film, Gone With the Wind. While playing lovers in the film, Olivier and Leigh fell in love in real life and began an affair. They wanted to marry, but both Leigh's husband and Olivier's wife at the time, did not want to give them a divorce. When they finally were divorced, they were married on 31 August 1940 with Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin as witnesses. They stayed together for over 20 years.

Another film they performed in together was, 21 Days, also known as 21 Days Together (1940). A British drama film based on the short play. It was directed by Basil Dean. It is a story about a man, who kills his lover's husband in self-defence and hides the body rather than turn himself in to the police. Then another man is arrested for murder. Now, will he turn himself in?

They're at their best as Horatio Nelson and his mistress Emma Hamilton in the film, That Hamilton Woman(1941), a historical film drama, about a scandal that was similar their own relationship. Which takes place during the Napoleonic wars, produced and directed by Alexander Korda for Alexander Korda Films.

The story begins with no where to turn, alcoholic Lady Hamilton, now in prison shares her past life with her cell mates, in a flashback: Emma, looks into a mirror and remembers, her life as the mistress of Charles Francis Greville. Greville gives Emma to Sir William, in payment for his debts. Emma, over time comes to like Sir William, who marries her. When Horatio Nelson arrives in Naples, Emma is impressed by how he is against Napoleon and his beliefs. She leaves Sir William, to live with Nelson, their life together is threatened, when Nelson decides to leave to fight in the, Battle of Trafalgar. After his death, her life falls apart.



Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier were newlyweds at the time of filming and were considered the "dream couple".

Clash of the Titans (1981)

Clash of the Titans (1981). Fantasy/adventure. Based on the myth of Perseus. A novelization of the film by Alan Dean Foster was published in 1981. Cast: Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin, Burgess Meredith and Ursula Andress. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are set to release a remake of the film in 3-D on April 2, 2010.

King Acrisius of Argos locks his daughter Danae in prison to keep her from having a son. While she is imprisoned, the god Zeus impregnates her. After the King learns about the pregnancy, Acrisius casts his daughter and her son Perseus out to sea in a wooden coffin.

Angry, Zeus orders Poseidon, to release the Kraken to destroy Argos. Meanwhile, Danae and her son safely make it to the island of Seriphos. Calibos, son of the sea goddess Thetis, is to marry Princess Andromeda, the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia.

Calibos has killed entire herd of flying horses (except for Pegasus) and as punishment Zeus changes Calibos into a monster who now lives in the swamps. Thetis, heartbroken, promises that if Calibos cannot marry Andromeda, no other man will either. Thetis then transports Perseus from Seriphos to Joppa.

Perseus, becomes friends with Ammon, where he learns of Andromeda and her curse(she cannot marry unless her suitor answers a riddle and any suitor who does not answer the riddle correctly is burned at the stake).

Carrying gifts from the gods a sword, shield, and a helmet, Perseus captures Pegasus and follows Andromeda's on her journey to learn a new riddle from Calibos. Knowing the answer, Perseus is attacked by Calibos, but escapes.

Perseus ready for the next ceremony answers the riddle correctly winning Andromeda's hand in marriage. At the temple Calibos prays to his mother Thetis to take vengeance on Perseus. Thetis tells Calibos that she cannot because Perseus is protected by Zeus, but she will take vengeance on Joppa.

At the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromeda's beauty to that of Thetis, which angers the goddess. The statue of Thetis begins to grumble and the head comes to life, demanding Andromeda as a virgin sacrifice to the Kraken in thirty days, or else Joppa will be destroyed.

Perseus begins his journey to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster to save the Princess Andromeda.

Clash of the Titans, has been one of my favorite movies since my son and I watched it with a bowl of popcorn when he was a little boy... I really enjoy mythology and epic adventures. The special effects were in my opinion very well done..



FUN FACTS:

The original script wanted Perseus to cut off Medusa's head by throwing his shield at her. Harry Hamlin convinced the producers to let him use his sword, because that was how it happened according to Greek Mythology.

The Kraken was not the name of a titan in Greek mythology, but a sea monster from Scandinavian mythology.

Neil McCarthy only played Calibos in head shots and half-body shots. All full body shots of Calibos were played by a stop-motion model.

Screenwriter Beverley Cross was a student of mythology and he developed a story-line centering on Perseus and Andromeda which linked together a number of myths. He took the idea to producers Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen. The story was modified to add more creatures. Cross's wife, actress Maggie Smith, appeared in the film as Thetis.

According to mythology after Medusa's head was severed from her neck, two offspring sprang forth: the winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor.

According to mythology there was Cerberus, the THREE-headed dog but no Dioskilos with two. They asked Ray Harryhausen why he didn't use a three-headed dog, and he said it takes too much time to animate the extra head.

Ray Harryhausen, producer and a special effects creator most famous for his brand of stop-motion model animation.
Ray Harryhausen Official Websight