135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

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domino harvey
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#51 Post by domino harvey » Thu May 13, 2010 6:31 pm

Geographically

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dad1153
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#52 Post by dad1153 » Sat Apr 16, 2011 12:40 am

Just saw "Rebecca" and "Notorious" on (non-Criterion Premiere Collection) DVDs for the first time recently.

Despite knowing a few minor things about it beforehand (title character never appears, a body is found halfway through the movie, etc.) "Rebecca" completely won me over, held me in suspense 'till the very end and kick-started Hitchcock's impressive American period (not in that exact order). Like Disney's 2007 movie "Enchanted" this is a de-construction of a fairytale in which seeing how things go askew from expectations is half the fun. The improbable only-in-movies whirlwind romance (rich English nobleman marries attractive civilian... nothing like this happens in the real world, right?) is the perfect excuse for Hitch's keen eye on human behavior, mistrust of authority and a person over his/her head in a new-to-them environment to make for suspenseful good times. The only way the behavior of Laurence Olivier's Maxim makes sense to me is that he's bi-polar (I can see how Orson Welles took an inspiration from Olivier's role here for the middle-aged portions of "Citizen Kane"). Joan Fontaine sells the vulnerability and wide-eyed wonderment of her character really well; loved it when Maxim points out the innocence is gone from wife #2's face after his confessions, and Fontaine's subtle facial gestures convey this personality change perfectly.

The last 45 minutes just blew me away, one mouth-dropping surprise/twist after another (Rebecca was a saint...no, turns out she was a bitch... wait, she was depressed... no, she...) and damn if Judith Anderson doesn't sell the obsessed/unraveling/crazy/loyal employee routine really well. The only way Mrs. Danvers could have been better-played is if Agnes Moorehead had done the part. George Sanders and Florence Bates are clearly having a ball (as are we watching them) playing Favell and Mrs. Van Hopper (again, not in that exact order :p). Whenever these two were on-screen "Rebecca" came even more alive than usual. Manderley is like a prototype Xanadu (giant chimney, towering rooms, etc.) with personality and quirks of its own. Even the obvious miniature SFX shots hold up well 71 years later in conveying that Rebecca, Maderley and some of the people in it were united in purpose and mind. This one will be fun to rewatch with the commentary track on despite Schickel doing the talking (swoon).

What can I say about "Notorious" that hasn't been said before? Incredible, just freaking incredible; easily one of the two or three best Hitchcock movies I've seen. I was totally taken aback to see Ingrid Bergman, the definition of class & beauty, not only doing the role of a 'loose woman' early in "Notorious" but also pulling it off convincingly. Then, topping that, I get Cary Grant playing a government stooge whose feelings for Alicia he keeps close to his chest as he both seeks to manipulate her but also steer her toward the 'right' decision, either for him (not take the assignment to spy on old flame Sebastian) or for country (go ahead and sleep with the enemy) as a mole inside a Brazilian nest of German war criminals. And then, as the cherry on top, Claude Rains delivers in Alexander Sebastian a multi-dimensional villain (complete with Leopoldine Konstantin as Hitch's typical mother-as-boss devil guiding her son) whose affection for the leading lady might be greater and more sincere than the movie's hero. This is one seriously f***ed-up love triangle where, whether they intend to or not (and often times they do), the men in love with Alicia hurt her and she hurts them back in an effort to get a rise out of Devlin ('you can add Sebastian to my list of playmates'... SNAP!) or just to survive (when Alicia puts the key back in Sebastian's key chain I felt both hurt for him and anxious for her). Hitchcock's movies always have strong relationships driving a protagonist's quest or pushing the narrative forward, and in "Notorious" the elements that bring Grant, Bergman and Sebastian together aren't as intriguing or compelling as the fact their characters' love affairs are front and center throughout its running time. And this is a '46 Hitchcock thriller featuring an American drunkard whose German father was jailed for treason infiltrating on-the-run Nazi's in Rio De Janeiro!

"Notorious'" spy plot and the McGuffin (really, uranium sand? ) may be secondary to the drama and repressed romance between Devlin-Alicia-Sebastian, but just because the story is playing second-fiddle doesn't mean the plot mechanisms that screenwriter Ben Hecht and Hitch came up with (the long tracking shot from ceiling to key-on-fist close-up, Alicia's slow poisoning, the tension between Sebastian and his fellow German conspirators, the censor-thumbing lengthy kiss sequence, etc.) aren't well executed and perfect backdrop for his post-War World II fantasy with more than a connection with then-contemporary headlines. Watching the movie again with the Drew Casper commentary track (the man sounds possessed by his love and devotion to both Hitch and this particular masterpiece; his fawning is a little OTT but doesn't cross the line into ridicule) I enjoyed "Notorious" even more. It's both typical Hitchcock and unlike any other Hitchcock movie I've seen, an intimate love triangle surrounded by intrigue and danger out of a pulp novel that nevertheless comes across as classy and righteous. At first the ending stunned me with its suddenness, but thinking about it and then seeing it again it fits that I would leave "Notorious" feeling as sorry for Sebastian as I was happy for Devlin and Alicia.

Between "Rebecca" and "Notorious" (both classics/masterpieces) Hitch's partnership with Selznick was worth the disagreements/compromises/crap the director had to put up with early on in his American career. Haven't seen "Paradine Case" or "Spellbound" yet though, could Hitch have possibly gone 4-0 working with/for Selznick? I'll find out soon.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#53 Post by schellenberg » Sat Apr 16, 2011 4:38 am

dad1153 wrote:Between "Rebecca" and "Notorious" (both classics/masterpieces) Hitch's partnership with Selznick was worth the disagreements/compromises/crap the director had to put up with early on in his American career. Haven't seen "Paradine Case" or "Spellbound" yet though, could Hitch have possibly gone 4-0 working with/for Selznick? I'll find out soon.
They went 3-1.

The Paradine Case, along with Under Capricorn were his two worst talkies, IMO.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#54 Post by matrixschmatrix » Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:15 pm

Well, I like Spellbound, but it's not up to the quality level of Rebecca and Notorious, which are probably his best mid-period movies. I don't think Gregory Peck was a good fit with Hitch, and outside the Dali sequence I don't know that there's anything to make Spellbound stand out from the herd.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#55 Post by zombeaner » Sat Apr 16, 2011 4:52 pm

domino harvey wrote:Geographically
Autobiographically.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#56 Post by ShellOilJunior » Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:34 pm

On the way from MGM it seems...

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#57 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Mar 16, 2017 2:04 pm

Just saw Moshrom's audio demonstration for the MGM BD and Prism Leisure Corporation DVD (ugh, what a name), and again, massively disappointed that MGM smothered the soundtrack with NoNoise.
https://vimeo.com/206356956" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Did Criterion do this for their own DVD release?

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#58 Post by Moshrom » Thu Mar 16, 2017 2:53 pm

hearthesilence wrote:Did Criterion do this for their own DVD release?
No, they did not. I wrote a bit more about it here.

Criterion DVDs from the late '90s/early 2000s tend to sound pretty good.

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domino harvey
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#59 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jun 16, 2017 4:56 pm

Rebecca upgrade and reissue coming in September

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#60 Post by teddyleevin » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:01 pm

Is this like Orpheus coming out on its own or should we expect that the other two titles will re-emerge at some point? They always seemed like a package deal (not necessarily literally).

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domino harvey
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#61 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:02 pm

Seems like they plan to stagger them. And they didn't carry over MGM's extras, so you'll still want to hold onto those (or not, depending)

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#62 Post by knives » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:02 pm

They are all owned by the same company, as well as Straw Dogs, so likely the other two will come in the next year or so.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#63 Post by FrauBlucher » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:04 pm

domino harvey wrote:Seems like they plan to stagger them. And they didn't carry over MGM's extras, so you'll still want to hold onto those (or not, depending)
Thankfully they didn't. That Schickel commentary was a hack job.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#64 Post by kcota17 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:14 pm

Surprisingly it doesn't look like the Truffaut interview excerpt is included here, which is strange since it's usually on every release.

And I'm assuming the blu-ray being two discs is a typo?

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domino harvey
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#65 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:15 pm

We also lose the original liner notes from Robin Wood, the Oscars footage, the essay on de Maurier, the hundreds of behind the scenes photos, and the deleted scene from the original Criterion release...

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#66 Post by Ribs » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:16 pm

kcota17 wrote:
And I'm assuming the blu-ray being two discs is a typo?
Why? It's still a lot of content and it's not a short movie.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#67 Post by kcota17 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:26 pm

domino harvey wrote:We also lose the original liner notes from Robin Wood, the Oscars footage, the essay on de Maurier, the hundreds of behind the scenes photos, and the deleted scene from the original Criterion release...
Most of that was expected to be left off tbh.

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domino harvey
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#68 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:31 pm

...by who? I know we tend to lose the photo galleries but there was no reason to expect them to drop the rest. It's not like Robin Wood was Armond White and they needed to correct an earlier mistake

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#69 Post by kcota17 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:36 pm

Criterion rarely upgrades ALL of their photo / text supplements when they upgrade. Look at Carnival of Souls and Sullivan's Travels for example. It's surprising we're even getting the correspondence as a feature in the booklet..

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#70 Post by dwk » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:40 pm

At least the Robin Wood essay is available on Criterion's website.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#71 Post by cdnchris » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:55 pm

kcota17 wrote: And I'm assuming the blu-ray being two discs is a typo?
The sell sheets also indicate its two-discs so it probably isn't a typo.

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#72 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:22 am

I just had a thought about the timing of this re-issue of Rebecca. When is the new adaptation of My Cousin Rachel, based on the Daphne du Maurier novel and starring Rachel Weisz, coming out in the US?

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#73 Post by knives » Wed Jun 21, 2017 6:11 am

It already is.

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dwk
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#74 Post by dwk » Sun Jul 02, 2017 3:25 pm

Criterion has added a new special feature to Rebecca:
  • Daphne du Maurier: In the Footsteps of “Rebecca,” a 2016 French television documentary
and "Television interviews with Hitchcock and Fontaine from 1973 and 1980" has been changed to
  • Hitchcock interviewed by Tom Snyder on a 1973 episode of NBC’s Tomorrow
  • Tomorrow interview with Fontaine from 1980

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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#75 Post by Lowry_Sam » Sun Jul 02, 2017 6:45 pm

First no Mildred Fierce, now no Rebecky, Criterion is really slacking in the extras department. :cry:

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