This classic British thriller takes place in a classic British thriller setting, a sprawling mansion named Manderley overlooking the broody cliffs of Cornwall. It's the ancestral home of Maxim de Winter; a great looking set with solid wooden beams, giant chandeliers and sturdy furniture. We are immediately aware that tradition and stifling convention rules this place. Mrs. Danvers, longtime housekeeper, is determined Manderley stays that way. After all, the first Mrs. de Winter -- the beautiful Rebecca, dead exactly one year earlier through mysterious circumstances -- would want it that way. There's to be a costume party for friends and neighbors. The shy, plain-new Mrs. de Winter (as she is constantly called or referred to) hasn't a thing to wear. She accepts the devious housekeeper's suggestion to wear a dress that has adorned past mistresses of Manderley. It'd be a lovely surprise for Maxim, she's assured. When she appears at the top of the stairs, a changed woman wearing the magnificent gown, Maxim goes ballistic. Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 screen version starring the indelible Joan Fontaine emphasized Rebecca's supernatural presence. Mrs. Danvers was a ghoulish evil woman portrayed by Judith Anderson, and Laurence Olivier's brooding Maxim set "the definitive interpretation."
In this production, the period remains the `40s but the heavies aren't as ominous and Peter Krantz's Maxim is a more confident fellow. Loud crashing waves outside the window seem to be struggling to blurt out the truth about Rebecca's watery demise. Severn Thompson's Mrs. de Winter appears too contemporary, while Sharry Flett's devious Danvers swings from controlled bitch to demented witch, consumed with envy, jealousy and hate. As the mystery of Rebecca unravels, the accomplished cast soar!
