Fox Home Entertainment recently released three Alfred Hitchcock classics on Blu-ray — Rebecca, Notorious and Spellbound — each offering a new high definition transfer and mono DTS-HD master audio. As far as reviewing them goes there is only so much I can say so I’m going to try and offer at least a couple other insights outside of commenting on the picture and audio quality considering the special features on each duplicate the features that were included with the recent 2008 Premiere Collection.
That said, I will begin with Rebecca, the only Hitchcock film to ever win Best Picture and one that still has the distinction of being the only film to win Best Picture and not win any awards for acting, director or screenwriting. As we all famously know, Hitchcock never won an Oscar for Best Director, despite being nominated five times. Rebecca was his first nomination in 1941.
The story follows upper crust widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) who falls in love with a lowly secretary (Joan Fontaine) while vacationing in Monte Carlo. After knowing each other for only a few brief days and as the threat of never seeing her again becomes real, he sweeps her off her feet and into his country home, Manderley, a location that is just as much a character as any person in this film. It is here the memory of Maxim’s deceased wife, Rebecca, lives on as the lifelong housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) is none-too-welcoming to Maxim’s new bride.
The smokey atmosphere that surrounds Manderlay, the harsh performance from Judith Anderson and the tormented reactions from Fontaine turn this film into an incredible psychological thriller with a twist you never quite expect. Of course, this twist is the section of the film I’d actually like to focus on for just a second, and if you’ve never seen the film I suggest you don’t watch the following video clip.
About 60% of the way through the film the story takes a hard turn. Up to that point you really weren’t sure where Hitch was taking you, but I’d argue with anyone that says they knew exactly how it would end up.
As circumstances are only hinted at we come to the scene you see in the video to the right and at the 3:21 mark Maxim tells his new bride a story, but what’s important is Hitchcock doesn’t use Maxim’s words as voice over while showing us the actual events he’s describing via flashback. Instead, the camera allows the audience to live it first hand without having to interrupt the narrative flow by taking us back in time. Hitchcock uses the power of story and storytelling as Olivier recounts for us what happened and the audience essentially becomes the subject of the story while Maxim relays it, with select visual cues along the way.
Nowadays flashbacks are used ad nauseam and the more I see it the more it frustrates me. I understand there are times when it may be necessary, just as voice over is occasionally necessary, but so often we get flashbacks and voice over due to lazy screenwriting or storytelling, filling in the blanks in the story the filmmaker/screenwriter was unable, or too lazy, to sort out beforehand.
Of course, one could argue Rebecca is one giant flashback and the opening two minutes or so are nothing but voice over as the mood is set as the camera advances on a the miniature set we will come to know as Manderlay. The giant country estate is shrouded in fog before we go back in time to the beginning of the story in the south of France. However, I think the majority of you will realize the difference between the widespread use of flashbacks and voice overs films employ to fill narrative gaps and the opening moments of Rebecca.
As for this Blu-ray, it’s a rich and textured presentation that wildly improves on the softness from the DVD version, which you can see for yourself by mousing over the image above, which compares two screenshots from the film courtesy of DVD Beaver (note: the image is not indicative of the aspect ratio, the film is presented in 1.33:1). Notice how the edges are sharper in the Blu-ray image and how the grain adds to the detail without clouding the image with a mosquito effect.
When it comes to the features, which I mentioned are all brought over from the 2008 edition, there are a few highlights including the commentary from Richard Schickel, interviews with Hitchcock with Peter Bogdanovich and Francois Truffaut and the impressive “Making of Rebecca” featurette which largely explores the relationship between Hitchcock and producer David O. Selznick as this was Hitchcock’s first American production and it just so happened to be with the famed and controlling super producer.
As of the posting of this review, Rebecca is $19.99 at Amazon and I have included a link at the bottom of this post for you to purchase it if you wish. As someone that owns the Hitchcock Premiere Collection I can say it’s up to you whether you believe this is worth the upgrade or not. As you can see by the image above, and by others if you click through to DVD Beaver, this is a superior looking image and for me this is one of my favorite Hitchcock films so I am biased and lean toward the idea this is worth the money. Then again, the consistent packaging of all three of these recent Hitchcock Blu-rays suggests more may be on the way and a super collection may be forthcoming by the end of the year.
I leave the ultimate decision up to you.
