When Women Wrote Hollywood – 37 in a series – Rebecca – Wr: Joan Harrison, Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

To highlight the wonderful yet largely forgotten work of a collection of female screenwriters from the early years of Hollywood (and as a companion to the book, When Women Wrote Hollywood) we will be posting quick bits about the many films they wrote along with links to further information and clips from their works which are still accessible online. Take a few moments once or twice a week to become familiar with their names and their stories. I think you’ll be surprised at how much bold material these writers tackled at the birth of this new medium. — Rosanne Welch

When Women Wrote Hollywood – 37 in a series – Rebecca – Wr: Joan Harrison, Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

When Women Wrote Hollywood - 37 in a series - Rebecca - Wr: Joan Harrison, Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock’s first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. The film stars Laurence Olivier as the brooding, aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as the young woman who becomes his second wife, with Judith Anderson and George Sanders in supporting roles. The film won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The film is a gothic tale shot in black-and-white. Maxim de Winter’s first wife Rebecca, who died before the events of the film, is never seen. Her reputation and recollections of her, however, are a constant presence in the lives of Maxim, his new wife and the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers.

Rebecca won two Academy Awards, Best Picture and Cinematography, out of a total 11 nominations. Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson also were Oscar-nominated for their respective roles as were Hitchcock and the screenwriters. Rebecca was the opening film at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival in 1951.[2] — Wikipedia 

More about Rebecca

More about Joan Harrison

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Related posts:

  1. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 36 in a series – Joan Harrison
  2. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 23 in a series – From the Manger to the Cross (1912), Wr: Gene Gauntier, Dir: Sidney Olcott
  3. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 9 in a series – A Woman of Affairs (1928), Wr: Michael Arlen and Bess Meredyth, Dir: Clarence Brown
  4. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 15 in a series – “The Ancient Mariner” (1925), Wr: Eve Unsell, Actor: Clara Bow, Dir: Henry Otto/Chester Bennett
  5. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 21 in a series – Where Are My Children? (1916), Wr: Lois Weber, Dir: Phillips Smalley

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