![\"Rebecca](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/files\/2015\/10\/Rebecca-candle.jpg\")
<\/a> expectations, reveals the woman actively exploring space. \u00a0In Rebecca<\/em> only Mrs Danvers receives this attention. This occurs toward the film\u2019s end, just prior to her setting light to Manderley. We are afforded a shot of Danvers, with the candle light playing wickedly on her face, and it is soon revealed she is creeping towards a sleeping, innocent and endangered second Mrs de Winter.<\/p>\nRebecca\u2019s costumes also play an important part in the film. In addition to the second Mrs de Winter unwittingly copying the last dress her predecessor wore at a ball, Mrs This literal hand also directs our attention to Danvers\u2019 more metaphorical hand in directing the second Mrs de Winter around the space of Rebecca\u2019s bedroom, motioning to her to sit whilst she pretends to brush the substitute Rebecca\u2019s hair. Danvers\u2019 control extends to the rest of the house. She has also kept the morning room just as it was \u2013 complete with Rebecca\u2019s address book, menus, and compromising letters. Danvers\u2019 domination of the house, and arguably the film, is seen in the even more public space of the entrance hall. This is especially evident when we compare the second Mrs de Winter\u2019s return to Manderley (at the opening of the film) to her initial entrance. In the former she is in charge of the voice over narration, framing our understanding, while in the latter. \u00a0Danvers has stamped her authority by lining up her battalion of staff to intimidate her new mistress. \u00a0The blurring between the drawing of battle lines between the two women and the possibility of the second Mrs de Winter replacing Rebecca in Judith Anderson\u2019s intriguing and creepily effective performance also prompted thought about the way her part was written compared to the final film product. Furthermore we noted some Hitchcockian set-pieces. The audience\u2019s watching of the newly-wedded We ended by commenting that in the end we knew little about either Mrs de Winter. Speculation about Rebecca\u2019s \u2018unspeakable\u2019 behaviour dominated. Despite the Hays Code, the film is explicit that Rebecca has been indulging in an adulterous affair with her cousin Favell (George Sanders) which may have resulted in a pregnancy. \u00a0But what previous medical ailments meant she needed to visit the backstreet doctor several times under the alias of Mrs Danvers? \u00a0And what was the nature of the relation between Rebecca and \u2018Danny\u2019?\u00a0\u00a0Tamar mentioned that at around the time of writing Rebecca<\/em> Daphne Du Maurier wrote a short story also focused on a character named Rebecca.\u00a0This Rebecca\u2019s aberrant behaviour is<\/em> elucidated \u2013 she behaves coldly to the story\u2019s male narrator as she finds her sexual fulfilment with a wooden doll.<\/p>\n Apologies for the spoiler, but\u00a0you can find the story in full here: http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2011\/apr\/30\/the-doll-daphne-du-maurier<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n In addition, here are some posts about Rebecca<\/em> on The Toast\u2019s website Lies mentioned:<\/p>\n http:\/\/the-toast.net\/2015\/07\/13\/the-sequel-to-rebecca-the-second-mrs-de-winter-deserves\/<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/the-toast.net\/2015\/10\/08\/in-1937-daphne-du-maurier-wrote-a-horror-story-about-sex-toys\/<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [i]<\/u><\/a> Lisa M. Dresner,\u00a0 \u201cA Case Study of Rebecca\u201d. \u00a0The Female Investigator in Literature, Film, and Popular Culture<\/em> (2006): 154-182.<\/p>\n [ii]<\/u><\/a> Gaines, Jane. 1991. \u201cCostume and Narrative: How dress tells the woman\u2019s story\u201d in Gaines, Jane and Herzog, Charlotte, eds, Fabrications: Costume and the Female Body<\/em>. New York and London: Routledge.<\/p>\n [iii]<\/u><\/a> Mary Anne Doane, \u201cFemale Spectatorship and the Machines of Projection: Caught and Rebecca.\u201d The Desire to Desire: The Woman\u2019s Film of the 1940s<\/em> (1987): 155-175.<\/p>\n Do log in to comment or email me on sp458@kent.ac.uk<\/span><\/u><\/a> to add your thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After recovering from the experience of watching all the dramatic happenings, our discussion of the film included: the second Mrs de Winter as \u2018gothic heroine\u2019 in terms of her being an \u2018almost investigator\u2019 as well as her naivety and youth; … Continue reading <\/a>The second Mrs de Winter does, nonetheless, get to explore the space of the house to an extent. She is what Lisa M. Dresner terms as \u2018almost investigator\u2019 (pp. 163-4)[i]<\/u><\/a>. Indeed most of the second Mrs de Winter\u2019s movement around the house is somewhat blundering. \u00a0Understandably she is unfamiliar with where certain rooms are situated. Notably she also manages to trip over her own feet, rather like a puppy, in front of the servants as she exits the dining room following her first hurried breakfast.<\/p>\n<\/a>Such clumsiness links to the character\u2019s youth. Her naivety and innocence prized by Maxim (Laurence Oliver) who states that he wants her to say a \u2018child\u2019 and a \u2018girl\u2019. The film is a \u2018growing-up\u2019 narrative, however, with the second Mrs de Winter gaining confidence as time progresses. \u00a0This is especially shown by costume. \u00a0The pale twinset and tweed skirt and unadorned or Alice-banded hair which characterise her early in the film gives way to her wearing a sophisticated black evening gown and pearls. Her excitement at her new dress is soon quelled by Maxim. After his unenthusiastic reaction \u2013 he reminds her that he stated at the beginning of their romance that he never wanted to see her wearing a black gown and a string of pearls \u2013 she looks uncomfortable, tugging at her dress. Maxim is made even angrier when his new wife dons a copy of Lady Caroline de Winter\u2019s dress. \u00a0She finds her level in the dark tailored skirt suit and hat she wears at the inquest into Rebecca\u2019s death. <\/a>This comments on, as Jane Gaines expresses, \u2018how dress tells the woman\u2019s story\u2019[ii]<\/u><\/a>. We also commented that Maxim comes to appreciate his second wife\u2019s newly-found strength, with the film also focusing on how he comes to terms with her evolution.<\/p>\n<\/a> Danvers\u2019s treatment of Rebecca\u2019s clothes is revealing. She has kept Rebecca\u2019s bedroom just as it was and insists on showing it to her previous mistress\u2019 replacement. Danvers\u2019 handling of Rebecca\u2019s fur coat and especially her sheer underwear are significant\u00a0 \u2013 she tellingly states that \u2018you can see my hand\u2019 thought the flimsy fabric of the negligee.<\/p>\n<\/a>Danvers\u2019 affections is shown in one simple but effective gesture in this scene. \u00a0It is revealed that the second Mrs de Winter has dropped her gloves and both women bend to retrieve them. While this shows the second Mrs de Winter\u2019s unease around servants it might also be interpreted as either her unwittingly throwing down the gauntlet to Danvers or indeed as a courtship ritual.<\/p>\n<\/a> couple screening their honeymoon home movies masterfully contrasts the carefree happenings on screen to the now stilted relationship of the pair. \u00a0This occurs just after Maxim\u2019s unenthusiastic response to his wife\u2019s new dress and he starts to behave in an even more threatening manner, at times moving in front of the projector and blocking his wife (and our) access to the home movies. \u00a0(See Mary Ann Doane for a great analysis of this scene \u2013 pp. 163-169.)[iii]<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Sound was more dominant elsewhere as close ups of a ringing phone appeared on two notable occasions. In the first, at the Monte Carlo hotel, the soon-to-be second Mrs de Winter leaves her room due to the orders of her employer, the ghastly Mrs Van Hopper, just as Maxim returns her call. \u00a0The second at the cottage on the beach is more dramatic, interrupting Maxim\u2019s confession to his new wife. \u00a0The set is especially atmospheric, if perhaps unbelievable with its still connected telephone, stubbed out cigarettes and cobwebs. \u00a0We also compared Rebecca<\/em> to some of Hitchcock\u2019s other works. Rear Window<\/em> (1954) also includes a tense phone call scene though we thought the tone of Rebecca<\/em> better matched The Lady Vanishes<\/em> (1939) \u2013 partly due to the Britishness (or affected Britishness) of the actors in both.<\/p>\n