"Don't Be Such a Little Idiot Darling": REBECCA

The Master of Suspense came to the United States with an English novel to adapt, a Hitchcockian standard, a Gothic tale of intrigue, murder, questionable marriages and a hint of the supernatural.

REBECCA  (SUSPENSE/DRAMA, 1940) 
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Reginald Denny, Gladys Cooper, C. Aubrey Smith, Nigel Bruce, Florence Bates
Not Rated (PG level; thematic material and smoking).
130 minutes
SCAREmeter: 2/10 (Gothic and a little spooky, but not particularly scary)
GOREmeter: 1/10 (some dialogue about a murder, but not even a drop of onscreen blood) 
LAUGHmeter: 3/10
OVERALL: 3/4 

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the, if not the, most universally-acclaimed filmmakers in the history of the medium, but "The Master of Suspense" never did win himself an Academy Award in a competitive category (he received the Irving G. Thalberg "honorary Oscar" in 1967, a non-competitive Academy Award category for "creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production").  In the pantheon of classics that make up Hitchcock's body of work, only a single one of his films won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and it was the wrong one (Note: The Academy Award for Best Picture is awarded to the producer(s), in this case David O. Selznick).
REBECCA was Hitchcock's first Hollywood production, although he had already directed over twenty films in his home country of Great Britain, only a few of which are likely to be familiar with even devoted film buffs.  But REBECCA is only partly a Hitchcock film, as he directed under contract with one of the most prolific "auteur" producers of Hollywood's Golden Age- David O. Selznick.  Hitchcock delivers the Gothic styling, suspenseful intrigue and chauvinism, and Selznick brings the grandiose production and romanticism.
Released in 1940, REBECCA is adapted from the 1938 Gothic romantic mystery novel of the same name written by Daphne du Maurier (it was his second adaptation of her work, after JAMAICA INN and before THE BIRDS).  Joan Fontaine stars as the unnamed heroine, a sheepish, naive, mousy young woman finds herself courted by Maximilian "Maxim" de Winter (Laurence Olivier), a handsome, brooding, aristocratic widower while staying in Monte Carlo.  On the day she is to leave, Maxim flippantly asks her to become the second Mrs. de Winter, and she accepts.  The happy if unlikely couple return to the de Winter family estate in Cornwall, England, the luxurious mansion they call Manderley.  Try as she might to assimilate herself into this life of aristocratic nobility, the second Mrs. de Winter is constantly prevented by one who continues to hold her position well past her time, the original Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca.  Maxim refuses to speak of her or the mysterious circumstances of her death, but her enchanting spell holds sway over all the household, most especially with the ominous housekeeper of Manderley, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), who bears nothing but animosity toward the second Mrs. de Winter, who she considers little more than a pretender to the throne.  Secrets are revealed, further delving into the mysteries of the enigmatic Rebecca, a woman so charming, so perfect, so beloved; practically more an idea than a person, and the intrigues that plague the House of Manderley pile up toward a fiery conclusion.

When your creepy housekeeper tells you to commit suicide, you fire her.

Hitchcock was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, but lost to John Ford for THE GRAPES OF WRATH.  While REBECCA was Hitchcock's sole Best Picture-winner, it is hardly his best film (PSYCHO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, THE BIRDS, REAR WINDOW, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, take your pick; many people would include VERTIGO, I, respectfully, would not), and THE GRAPES OF WRATH is superior to it.  THE GRAPES OF WRATH isn't a good Halloween movie though, and REBECCA is.