Rebecca



"Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Rebecca’s haunting opening line conjures the entirety of Hitchcock’s romantic, suspenseful, elegant film. A young woman (Joan Fontaine) believes her every dream has come true when her whirlwind romance with the dashing Maxim de Winter culminates in marriage. But she soon realizes that Rebecca, the late first Mrs. de Winter, haunts both the temperamental, brooding Maxim and the de Winter mansion, Manderley. In order for Maxim and the new Mrs. de Winter to have a future, Rebecca’s spell must be broken and the mystery of her violent death unraveled. The first collaboration between producer David O. Selznick and Hitchcock, Rebecca was adapted from Daphne du Maurier’s popular novel and won the 1940 Academy Award™ for Best Picture and Cinematography (Black and White).

Special Features:

-Glorious new digital film and sound restoration
-Commentary by film scholar Leonard J. Leff, author of Hitchcock and Selznick: The Rich and Strange Collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick in Hollywood
-Isolated music and effects track
-Rare screen, hair, makeup and costume tests including Vivien Leigh, Anne Baxter, Loretta Young, Margaret Sullavan, and Joan Fontaine
-Hitchcock on Rebecca, excerpts from his conversations with François Truffaut
-Phone interviews with stars Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson from 1986
-Hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos chronicling the film’s production from location scouting, set photos, and wardrobe continuity to ads, posters, and promotional memorabilia
-Production correspondence and casting notes
-Deleted scene script excerpts
-1939 test screening questionnaire
-Essay on Rebecca author Daphne du Maurier
-Footage from the 1940 13th Annual Academy Awards™ ceremony
-Re-issue trailer
-Three hours of complete radio show adaptations:
-1938 Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre broadcast, including an interview with Daphne du Maurier
-1941 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast starring Ronald Colman and Ida Lupino, including an interview with David O. Selznick
-1950 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh
-English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
-Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
-PLUS: A 22-page booklet, including liner notes by Robin Wood, author of Hitchcock’s Films and Hitchcock’s Films Revisited, and George Turner’s essay “Du Maurier + Selznick + Hitchcock = Rebecca"

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Notorious



In Notorious, a brilliant allegory of love and betrayal, Hitchcock fuses two of his favorite elements: suspense and romance. A beautiful woman with a tainted past (Ingrid Bergman) is enlisted by American agent Devlin (Cary Grant) to spy on a ring of Nazis in post-war Rio. Her espionage work becomes life-threatening after she marries the most debonair of the Nazi ring, Alex (Claude Rains). Only Devlin can rescue her, but to do so he must face his role in her desperate situation and acknowledge that he’s loved her all along. Stunning performances, Ben Hecht’s excellent script, and Hitchcock’s direction at its best make Notorious a perfect film.

Special Features:

-Glorious new digital transfer, with film and sound restoration
-Commentaries by Hitchcock film scholar Marian Keane and film historian Rudy Behlmer, editor of Memo from David O. Selznick
-Complete broadcast of the 1948 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation, starring Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten
-Rare production, publicity, and rear projection photos, as well as promotional posters and lobby cards
-Production correspondence
-Collection of trailers and teasers
-Script excerpts of deleted scenes and alternate endings
-Excerpts from the short story “The Song of the Dragon,” source material for Notorious
-Rare newsreel footage of Bergman and Hitchcock
-Subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
-Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

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Spellbound



Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) is a psychiatrist with a firm understanding of human nature—or so she thinks. When the mysterious Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck) becomes the new chief of staff at her institution, the bookish and detached Constance plummets into a whirlwind of tangled identities and feverish psychoanalysis, where the greatest risk is to fall in love. A transcendent love story replete with taut excitement and startling imagery, Spellbound is classic Hitchcock, featuring stunning performances, an Academy Award®-winning score by Miklos Rozsa, and a captivating dream sequence by Surrealist icon Salvador Dalí.

Special Features:

-Spectacular new digital transfer with film and sound restoration, including rare theater entrance and exit music cues by composer Miklos Rozsa
-Commentary by Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane
-"A Nightmare Ordered by Telephone," an in-depth, illustrated essay on the Salvador Dalí-designed dream sequence by James Bigwood
-Excerpts from a 1973 audio interview with composer Miklos Rozsa
-Complete 1948 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation starring Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli
-The Fishko Files: a WNYC/New York Public Radio piece on the theremin
-Essays by noted Hitchcock scholars Lesley Brill (The Hitchcock Romance) and Leonard Leff (Hitchcock and Selznick)
-Hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos and documents chronicling the film’s production, from set photos to ads, posters, and publicity material
-Theatrical trailer
-Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
-English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

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Just watched Rebecca again the other night and everytime I do that I find it amazing how you can have a whole film where you never know the name of the main actress who is onscreen for the most part of the film's duration while at the same time you cannot help but hear and think and visualize another woman whose name is constantly repeated throughout but never makes a single apparition: Rebecca.

A real masterstroke, no less.

Has anybody listened to the radio programs included on Disc 2? I know I've had mine almost a year and a half and I haven't waded through them yet...

Also fascinating - Joan Fontaine's character is never named in REBECCA and her character's name in LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN is only ever "Lisa".

Yes I like that as well. The presence of Rebecca is so powerful that people remember her after death, while the lack of "I"'s name suggests that she finds it difficult to make an impression on people face to face, let alone make a lasting impression. The scene where she is wearing the dress is the climax of this - her personality is completely subsumed to Rebecca's, at least to the people who see her in the dress, like Maxim. Maxim probably was attracted to this easily moudled character, he probably had enough of strong willed women with Rebecca, so it perhaps is tragic that he does not realise that by taking her back to Manderley he forces her into competition with Rebecca for his attention (if not for his love as "I" thinks). Then when she starts fighting for her individuality, he realises he has killed what he married "I" for, maybe created if not another Rebecca, then at least someone who will not just sit around in a large house and wait for her husband to come home to her (as shown by "I"'s insistence on going to the inquest).

I've just finished the second disc and thought the radio programmes were very interesting. They gave the opportunity for different combinations of actors and actresses to have a go at playing the role. After listening to the Margaret Sullavan production, I think it shows even more than in the screentest that she didn't seem fragile enough for the role. I wasn't that fond of the Orson Welles performance either, but I was amazed to think of the influence this film had over parts of Citizen Kane in the rest of the extras on the disc - it had never occured to me before, but now seems so obvious!

The Mercury Theater production seemed to be having a lot more fun with the play though, especially with Welles flirting a little with Sullavan, the obviously staged questions which the pair were having fun with ("why yes, I've been wondering that as well!") and the 'tactful' way in which Du Maurier cut off the telephone connection after being questioned about why "I" had no name! Perhaps the three of them were having a joke about the inane questions people ask of an author!

I actually like the Ronald Coleman and Ida Lupino version best out of all the adaptations, even the film itself. I can see why Selznick tried to get Coleman for the film, as he seems to be able to play the character of De Winter more naturally.

Also it was interesting to see Isaac Mizrahi credited with Julia Jones in the production of the original Laserdisc. Is this the same Isaac Mizrahi who is the fashion designer profiled in the documentary Unzipped? That might perhaps explain the sections relating to the costume, hair and makeup tests on the DVD as it would have been an area with which he was more interested?

Notorious discussed on this Out of the Past podcast.

Not that it is any BIG or NEW news, but I asked Turell if there was any chance of Rebecca coming back in print, and the obvious answer was no, as much as he would like to.

Why not??

I'm sure whoever owns the rights wised up and are now asking for more money to re-license.

I'd imagine because the rights would be too expensive. Hitchcock sells, so whoever has it isn't likely to forfeit the rights since they could make more money hawking it on their own.

MGM currently own the rights, sublicensed from ABC/Disney. Since Criterion got House of Games and, one imagines, Salo from MGM, they probably asked about this at the time and were told, sorry, nope.

Makes one wonder why MGM hasn't come out with their own editions like with Straw Dogs. Feature-laden or not, these titles deserve to be in-print in R1.

I have no idea how feasible it would be but maybe Criterion could license their Hitch supplements to MGM in return for a handful of their back catalog titles? Seems like it would be win-win for everyone.

I guess it's about time some mod comes and redirects you guys to the MGM thread.

I just read that that sub license is due to end 'in a few months', and maybe that's the fly in the ointment? Be nice if Criterion could get a hold of a few of those ABC/Disney held titles, not only the Hitchcocks again, but Criterions of 'Hell In The Pacific' and 'Junior Bonner' would be nice.

Interesting... I ordered one, we'll see...

After the Bensonsworld fiasco, and while I still have Drunken Angel "pending despatch" from CD-WOW, I'll sit this one out. But it's fascinating, and I'd love to hear how it turns out!

I'll let you know.

Went ahead and took a chance. I mean, what's the worst that could happen, they don't charge your card until it ships anyways rite

I ordered also, so I'll chime in as well. What has been the experience with CD WOW! ?

Just ordered this late last night and it's not yet showing up under my orders when I log in with my order num and email, which has me thus far a little annoyed with them...Might be premature to assume anything strange though. Got confirmation emails, so hopefully all's well, hehe. Like domino, I'm not too concerned. This would be cool if we found a place with a stockpile of these for any interested.

There's a 33-page thread on CD-Wow in the Stores forum, but basically, there's a 50-50 chance we'd get what we ordered even if it was something readily available. But I've never really had any problems with them yet so hopefully I'll keep my luck. They do occasionally get OOP titles in stock (Savage Innocents comes to mind), it could work out. But I don't have my hopes up, I'm really only ordering because I'd be more upset if it worked out for others than I would be if I didn't get it.

If you ordered from the US site (cd-wow.us), your order won't show up there. To check order status you need to go to the parent/UK site, cd-wow.com. Don't ask me why; it's just one of those things that make shopping at CD-Wow such wonderful, quirky experience.

I'm broke right now, and Spellbound is one of my favorite Hitchcock films. For some reason, I doubt this is legit though.

I'm sure everyone who ordered figured this out, but they removed the item without refunding/canceling the order-- so if you ordered this, you've already been charged and though your order says "pending" it's of course not-- you need to email CD-Wow and request a refund

I got an email saying the order was canceled and that they have refunded the amount.