OPERA HOUSE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 180, 2 August 1940, Page 7

OPERA HOUSE

"REBECCA” With Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine heading a cast of outstanding players and with a story iilleci witn drama, suspense, and mystery, David O. Selznick's latest production "Rebecca.” is released by United Artists, and will commence screening to-day at the Opera House. “Rebecca” is the lilrn version of the best-selling novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. Laurence Olivier, who last year made a tremendous hit as the hero of "Wuthering Heights,” plays the role of Maxim de Winter, the socially prominent owner o£ Manderlcy, the vast Tudor estate where most of the action unwinds. To this house he brings his second wife, played by Miss Foiuallie. a shy and unsophisticated person who can hardly be compared to the glittering and brilliant former mistress of Manderley, Rebecca, now dead. But though Rebecca is dead, her forceful personality and dramatic beauty stiff continue to dominate Mandeiley and to haunt the lives of those who wander through its immense rooms. Judith Anderson, as the sadisticaily cruel Mrs. Danvers, George Sanders as Jack Favell; Nigel Bruce, C. Aubrey Smith, Reginald Denny, and Gladys Cooper are other important players. Alfred Hitchcock, the director who brought a new status to screen intrigue and melodrama, has directed ‘ Rebecca” with startling impact, with amazing subtlety as to character delineation, and with rich dramatic overtones. The i picture moves with telling and engrossing swiftness from its initial scene to the final fade-out. Brilliant 'pictorial backgrounds include London streets, old taverns, a Coroner's office, j a boathouse facing a wind-swept bar on the coast of Cornwall, and the ; Tudor estate.