“Rebecca” casts a long shadow over Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine

Rebecca (1940) is an American romantic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock—in his American directorial debut—and starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. The screenplay was written by Robert E. Sherwood and long-time Hitchcock associate, Joan Harrison. The film score was written by Franz Waxman and the cinematography was by George Barnes who won an Academy Award for his work on this film.

The film was producer and filmmaker David O. Selznick‘s follow up to Gone with the Wind (1939). It would be impossible for Selznick to match that success in his long career, but Rebecca won Best Picture and a Best Actress Academy Award for Joan Fontaine. It was a critical and commercial success and one of the biggest hits of the year.

Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980) was an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century. Hitchcock directed over 50 feature films, many are classics that have been honored and studied for years. Some of Hitchcock’s classic films include The 39 Steps (1939), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Notorious (1946), Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960).

Laurence Olivier (1907 - 1989) was an English actor and director who was one of the most celebrated actors of the 20th century. Olivier attended drama school in London where he learned his craft. He made his West End debut in Noel Coward‘s Private Lives (1930). More successes followed and he eventually made his way to Hollywood. He had a huge success with his role as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (1939) and Rebecca the next year. Olivier‘s career in films also includes lead roles in Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), Richard III (1955), Spartacus (1960).

Joan Fontaine (1917 – 2013) was a British-American actress who starred in more than 45 films during Hollywood’s “Golden Age.” After secondary roles in Gunga Din (1939) and The Women (1939), her fortunes turned with her starring role in Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film, Rebecca (1940). She was nominated for Best Actress for her role in that film but lost to Ginger Rogers. The next year, she worked with Hitchcock again in Suspicion and this time won the Best Actress Oscar, beating out her older sister Olivia de Havilland. She received a third and final nomination for The Constant Nymph (1943). Other popular Fontaine films include This Above All (1942), From This Day Forward (1946), Ivy (1947), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), The Emperor Waltz (1948), and Ivanhoe (1952). After the late-1950s, she appeared less in films and more on stage and television. Fontaine and her sister are the only siblings to have won major acting Academy Awards.

Others in the cast include Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers and George Sanders as Jack Favell.

Rebecca trivia:

• Loretta Young, Margaret Sullavan, Anne Baxter, and Vivien Leigh were among the over 20 actresses who screen-tested for the role of Mrs. de Winter.
• Hitchcock instructed Judith Anderson to rarely blink her eyes.
• This is the only film directed by Hitchcock to win Best Picture.
• Olivier wanted his then girl-friend, Vivien Leigh, to costar in the film which made him treat Fontaine very badly during filming.
• Hitchcock shot the film in black and white to keep with the dark atmosphere of the book.
• The director and cinematographer, George Barnes shot the film in deep focus, one year before Citzen Kane (1941) which is often credited with inventing the technique.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To Join the discussion on March 2, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. click here. Once you RSVP, you will get an invitation and link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Questions for discussion:

1. What genre do you think best describes this film?
2. Joan Fontaine‘s character has no first name; what effect does it have on the film?
3. How does the relationship between Max and his bride change after they arrive at Manderley?
4. What role does Mrs. Danvers play in the film?
5. What are some of the clues to Rebecca‘s true nature?

Ann Harding and William Powell share a "Double Harness"

 Double Harness (1933) is a pre-Code melodrama directed by John Cromwell (Of Human Bondage) and starring Ann Harding and William Powell. The screenplay was written by Jane Murfin (What Price Hollywood?, Alice Adams), and the music was by Max Steiner.

The plot concerns Joan Colby (Harding), the sensible older sister who decides to get married not for love but for her own betterment. She sets her sights on rich playboy, John Fletcher (Powell) who owns a shipping line that is floundering due to his indifference in working for a living.

Joan tricks John into marrying her but she turns out to be a great asset. She encourages him to take an interest in the family business which he does to great success. Everything comes undone when John discovers the truth surrounding their marriage. Will Joan be able to convince her husband that their marriage wasn’t a mistake?

William Powell and Ann Harding

John Cromwell (1886 – 1979) was an American film and stage director. Cromwell started his career as an actor on the stage and in the early days of talking pictures. He was under contract to Paramount where he directed many pre-Code films. Some of the stars he directed during this time included Kay Francis, William Powell, and Jean Arthur. In 1933, he moved to RKO and directed Irene Dunne in Ann Vickers (1933), Spitfire (1934) with Katharine Hepburn, and Of Human Bondage (1934) with Leslie Howard and Bette Davis. Of Human Bondage was a tremendous box office success and made Cromwell a top director in Hollywood. Other films he directed include Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Since You Went Away (1944), Anna and the Kind of Siam (1946), and Dead Reckoning. He is the father of actor James Cromwell.

The Strand Theatre in Plainfield, NJ promotes Double Harness

Ann Harding (1901 - 1981) was an American stage, radio, movie, and television actress. She acted on Broadway and with other theater companies before going to Hollywood. Harding arrived in Hollywood just as the sound era in movies was beginning. Due to her stage training and perfect diction, Harding was one of the first major stars to emerge in the early days of talking pictures. Harding was under contract to Pathe, which was eventually taken over by RKO Pictures where she became one of its top female stars alongside Helen Twelvetrees and Constance Bennett. Harding received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Holiday (1930). Katharine Hepburn played the same role in the 1938 version, and like Hepburn, Harding attended Bryn Mawr College. Other popular films starring Harding include The Animal Kingdon (1932), When Ladies Meet (1933), and Peter Ibbetson (1935). After the end of the 1930s, Harding’s popularity as a leading lady waned and she started playing secondary leads and character roles. She continued to act on the stage, radio, and television until her retirement in 1965.

William Powell (1892 – 1984) was an American actor who was most famous for the Thin Man series in which he costarred with Myrna Loy. Loy and Powell made 14 films together. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: The Thin Man (1934), My Many Godfrey (1936), and Life With Father (1947). Powell was under contract to Paramount, Warner Bros., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer where he had his greatest success. Some of Powell’s popular films include Manhattan Melodrama (1934), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Libeled Lady (1936), The Last of Mrs. Cheney (1937), Love Crazy (1941), Life with Father (1947), The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947), Dancing in the Dark (1949), How to Marry a Millionare (1953), and Mister Roberts (1955).

Double Harness trivia:

• The $5000  (each) set aside for Joan and Valerie to be used for their wedding is equal to over $92,000 today.
• The newspaper announcing the home of Valerie and Dennis at being at 2200 Lombard Street in San Francisco was home to a pizzeria in 2016.
• The film had been out of circulation for decades due to a dispute with the producer’s estate. TCM acquired the rights to six films from RKO in 2007. Double Harness was one of the six.
• The film played Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on Zoom on February 23, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click on the link here. Once you RSVP, you will get an email with a Zoom link.

Questions for discussion:

1. What do you think is the significance of the title?
2. What did you think of Joan’s plan to trap John into marriage?
3. Why do you think Joan acted so diligently on behalf of John’s business?
4. What do you think made John return to Joan and their marriage?
5. Ann Harding was a favorite of actress Barbara Stanwyck.What do you think Stanwyck saw in Harding’s acting style?

John Mills, Horst Buchholz, and Hayley Mills struggle in “Tiger Bay”

Tiger Bay (1959) is a British crime drama directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, Horst Buchholz, and Hayley Mills in her first major film role.

The plot centers around a young Polish sailor named Bronislav (“Bronek”) Korchinsky (Buchholz) who returns from a voyage to visit his girlfriend, Anya (Yvonne Mitchell). He discovers that she is no longer living in the apartment he was paying for, he tracks her down at her new flat. There she tells him that she no longer wants him and is involved with a married man (Anthony Dawson). They argue and in a fit of jealously, he hits her. She defends herself with a gun, but Bronek takes the gun from her and shoots her dead. 

Unbeknownst to Bronek at the time, a young tomboy named Gillie (Mills) watches the whole scene through the letterbox. Gillie at first fears for her life when Bronek confronts her, but instead the two develop a bond that will change both their lives.

Hayley Mills and Horst Buchholz

J. Lee Thompson (1914 - 2002) was a British film director. He made pictures in England and Hollywood and is best remembered for Cape Fear (1962) and The Guns of Navarone (1961). Thompson began his career as a screenwriter and dialogue coach. After a stint in the RAF during World War II, he went back to screenwriting. In 1950 he directed his first feature Murder Without Crime (1950) in England. Other Hollywood films directed by Thompson include What a Way to Go! (1964), John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965), and Mackenna’s Gold (1969).

John Mills (1908 - 2005) was an English actor who made over 100 films in the United States and in Great Britain. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ryan’s Daughter (1970). Mills worked on the stage in London in the Noel Coward revue Words and Music (1932). He made his film debut in the U.K. in 1932 and appeared with Ida Lupino in The Ghost Camera (1933). He had a supporting role in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939) starring Robert Donat. Mills starred as Pip in Great Expectations (1946) to great acclaim and popular box office. Mills continued acting into the 2000s.

Horst Buchholz (1933 - 2003) was a German actor who was once called “the German James Dean” was an international movie star and voice artist. In America, he starred in The Magnificent Seven (1960), On, Two Three (1961). He starred opposite Leslie Caron in Fanny (1961) and Nine Hours to Rama (1963). He’s almost as famous for the roles that got away. He was offered the roles of Tony in West Side Story (1961) and Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) but scheduling conflicts prevented him from starring in those films.

Hayley Mills (1946 - ) is an English actress and at one time was one of the biggest child stars in the world. The daughter of actor John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell and younger sister of Juliet Mills, she got her start in films playing Gillie in Tiger Bay (1959). It was her performance in that film that brought her to the attention of Walt Disney and international stardom. Mills made her American movie debut in Pollyanna (1960), winning the Academy Juvenile Award in the process. Other films she made at Disney include The Parent Trap (1961), In Search of the Castaways (1962), Summer Magic (1963), and That Darn Cat! (1965).

Tiger Bay trivia:

• The role of Gillie was meant to be a boy, but when the director met John Mill’s daughter Hayley, he thought making Gillie a girl would improve the movie.
• This was the English-speaking movie debut of Horst Buchholz.
• John Mills said that Hayley received no film offers in the U.K. after her acclaimed performance.
• John and Hayley Mills worked together again in The Chalk Garden (1964).

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on Zoom on Tiger Bay on February 16, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time click on the link here. Once you RSVP, you will get an email with a Zoom link.

Questions for discussion:

1. Do you think the film would have been different if the role of Gillie had been played by a boy?
2. Why do you think Gillie bonded with Bronek?
3. Did anything about the film surprise you?
4. What do you think happened to Bronek after his arrest at the end?

Joan Fontaine and Louis Jordan in “Letter from an Unknown Woman”

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) is an American drama directed by Max Ophuls and starring Joan Fontaine and Louis Jordan. The movie is based on the novella of the same name by Stefan Zweig.

Joan Fontaine (Lisa) and Louis Jordan (Stefan)

During the early days of the twentieth century in Vienna, Lisa, a teenage girl (Fontaine) becomes enamored by concert pianist Stefan Brand (Jordan) who is a new tenant in her apartment building. As Stefan’s career gains traction, Lisa becomes obsessed with him. She stays up late to listen to him play, and even sneaking into his apartment to see how he lives and to admire him from afar.

Lisa’s mother reveals that she is engaged to be married to a wealthy gentleman and that they will be moving to Linz. This makes Lisa distraught and she finds her life in Linz almost unbearable. Eventually, Lisa moves back to Vienna, working as a dress model. She lingers the streets of her old neighborhood hoping to get a glimpse of her idol and love, Stefan.

Will he notice her? Will the love she has for Stefan bloom into a relationship between the two of them?

The Backstory

Max Ophuls (1931-1957) was born in Germany where his film career began. After it was clear the Nazis would take power in Germany, Ophuls, a jew, moved to France in 1933 where he became a French citizen in 1938. After the fall of France, he traveled through Switzerland and Italy, eventually ending up in the United States. In Hollywood, Ophuls directed Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Exile (1947), Joan Fontaine and Louis Jordan in Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Caught starring James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Robert Ryan. The Reckless Moment would be his last Hollywood film before he returned to France, where he directed major successes La Ronde (1950) and The Earrings of Madame de…(1953) starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux.

Joan Fontaine (1917 – 2013) was a British-American actress who starred in more than 45 films during Hollywood’s “Golden Age.” After secondary roles in Gunga Din (1939) and The Women (1939), her fortunes turned with her starring role in Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film, Rebecca (1940). She was nominated for Best Actress for her role in that film but lost to Ginger Rogers. The next year, she worked with Hitchcock again in Suspicion and this time won the Best Actress Oscar, beating out her older sister Olivia de Havilland. She received a third and final nomination for The Constant Nymph (1943). Other popular Fontaine films include This Above All (1942), From This Day Forward (1946), Ivy (1947), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), The Emperor Waltz (1948), and Ivanhoe (1952). After the late-1950s, she appeared less in films and more on stage and television. Fontaine and her sister are the only siblings to have won major acting Academy Awards.

And older Lisa and Stefan

Louis Jourdan (1921 - 2015) was a French film and television actor. Jourdan worked on the stage in Europe and even began working in films as early as 1939, but his film work was interrupted due to World War II. After the war, Jourdan was brought to Hollywood by producer David O. Selznick. His first film in Hollowood was Alfred Hitchcock’s The Paradine Case (1947). The next year he made Letter from an Unknown Woman, one of his most famous roles during his long career. Jourdan made movies in Europe and Hollywood and starred on Broadway in The Immoralist in 1954 co-starring with Geraldine Page and James Dean. Jourdan’s most famous and successful American film was Gigi (1958). The film cos-starred Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier and won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Letter from an Unknown Woman trivia:

• Fontaine was 30 years old when she played Lisa, who was 16 years old at the beginning of the film.
• The film was made by Rampart Productions, an independent film company formed by Fontaine and her then-husband William Dozier.
• Japanese film director, Hideo Nakata considers this “The best film in the entire movie industry.”
• Both Fontaine and Jourdan were under contract to David O. Selznick at the time of production.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join us on Zoom for a discussion of the film on February 6, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and link to the Zoom meeting.

Questions for discussion:

1. Do you think Fontaine was convincing as a teenager early in the film?
2. Was Jourdan convincing as a concert pianist and playboy?
3. Do you think Stefan ever loved Lisa?
4. What did you think of the film’s production?