Horror Actressing: Judith Anderson in "Rebecca"
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 4:00PM by Jason Adams
How could I help myself, right? Tomorrow Netflix is unveiling director Ben Wheatley's re-do of Daphne Du Maurier's "celebrated novel" (I love that is how the book is credited on IMDb) starring Armie Hammer, Lily James, and most enticingly of all Kristin Scott Thomas as the housekeeper-with-secrets. And yet somehow, despite it being one of my favorite performances in a horror film, I haven't gotten around to given Judith Anderson, in that same role in Alfred Hitchcock's Oscar-winning 1940 film, her due with this series. No more! The time for dangerously caressing silky underthings is nigh I say, nigh!
Not that we've exactly been clammed up when it comes tot he subject of Judith Anderson's turn in Rebecca around these parts in the past... A couple of examples I feel like linking to -- in 2013 your communal Team Experience polled up a list of our 10 Most Memorable Hitchcock Performances, and Anderson's Mrs. Danvers came in with a strong second place showing. And then in 2015 for the film's 75th anniversary a string of us tag-teamed the film from start to end, live-blogging what caught our attentions as we went.
In that 2015 post I personally wrote up the film's final act, which was a fascinating chapter to dive into with some detail for me because Mrs. Danvers is all over it but it's not the parts we always remember the most vividly when we think upon the character of Mrs. Danvers. When I think of her I think of her I think of the film's middle-passages -- her walking through sheer curtains and molesting those underthings (all of which was catnip to Vito Russo and his noted tome on queerness at the cinematic margins, The Celluloid Closet); her tricking Joan Fontaine to wear Rebecca's costume to the party, and then whispering into her ear for her to jump, jump, why don't you...
All of her villainous aspects. But the film's last chapter -- before she goes stark raving and burns Manderlay down around her, I mean -- really does hold some of the most interesting insights into Mrs. Danvers, and some of Anderson's most curious and memorable work. I speak of the passage at the courthouse, as the law tries to get to the bottom of just what happened to the original Mrs. De Winter. During this passage far from being the camp icon we're used to thinking of Mrs. Danvers as, the sneering leering Gothic queen haunting the shadows, Anderson just looks like a regular ol' person.
One in a fabulous hat, sure. But what comes across in this sequence off of Mrs. Danvers is a desperate sadness -- Hitchcock actually allows this woman's grief about her... friend... to rule. To sit center stage. All she's wanted is an answer about what happened to the woman she loved so much, and she thinks this inquest is going to finally uncover the truth. But sure enough, through some back-room handshaking the rich and powerful work things out, leaving her and her lost love in the lurch. Mrs. Danvers is heartbroken, and driven to madness by the romantic parlor shenanigans of a bunch of insipid straights. It's enough to make anybody wanna burn a mansion down, I tell ya.
Reader Comments (12)
I love this performance. It is an injustice she didn't win the Oscar. The movie keeps talking about Rebecca and although we never see her the movie feels ghostly. That is due to Anderson and her spectral presence. We never hear her footsteps in the movie or see her feet, she just glides in and out. She is a living ghost, haunting the house and slowly causing the decay of everything around her. Only when new life in the form of Joan Fontaine arrives do things change and Mrs. Danvers just can't abide that.
Just because I can't help myself... I saw the remake over the weekend. Not bad, but choosing Armie Hammer and Lily James as the two leads was the major wrong choice. I have always found both of them lacking in movie-star charisma, which you need in these particular characters (I am not necessarily saying that Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine gave their greatest performances in the 1940 version, but it was better than this). They didn't have any chemistry either. It's not horrible acting, but when sharing scenes with Ann Dowd (in the first act of the film as Mrs Van Hopper) and Kirsten Scott Thomas, their shortcomings are glaringly obvious. (Does Scott Thomas over-act occasionally? Sure, but it's better then under-acting.)
The first version of Rebecca never really bowled me over though it's an entertaining picture but Judith Anderson did!
She understands just how to play Mrs. Danvers and steals the movie effortlessly. I'm looking forward to see what KST makes of the role but as dynamite as I'm sure she will be Anderson is untouchable.
One of my earliest recollections when I was living in a huge lonely house with my parents and siblings was watching afternoon movies on tv, unsupervised. I watched parts of Rebecca without knowing what the story was or why did adults act strangely towards each other. I was alone that afternoon in a quiet house watching a b&w show when Judith Anderson's sinister Mrs Danvers appeared onscreen and I remembered being truly truly scared of her and suddenly terrified like when you realise you were all alone and you fear that characters on tv may spring to life and get you. Years later I will be able to watch and appreciate Rebecca and make sense of the strange behaviour of adults. But Judith Anderson was the one character, presence, and spectre that stayed with me.
Judith Anderson was spectacular and all her specific and particular gifts came brilliantly together when she essayed Mrs Danvers. Her face was made for silent films because of her expressive understatedness, yet when she urged Mrs de Winter to "why don't you...?" she was the greatest tragedienne spewing Lady Macbeth lines. The stillness of her stares, the grand composure, and the steely eyes barely betray the broken heart that is still beating, hoping.
Greek and Shakespearean tragedies were her métier. Part Irene Papas and Sybil Thorndike.
I wish a movie will explore her beginnings (like Maleficent, Nurse Ratched, Cruella de Ville but more stylishly Grand Guignol), or an opera written for a mezzo or contralto. Thanks a lot for writing this, Jason.
For my money the best ever supporting performance ever,she makes the film about her by the end.Good Luck KST.
God how I love Judith Anderson, in this movie specifically but just in general. She was rarely given a film role that showcased her talents to the extent as Rebecca but she makes an indelible impression in Laura, Diary of a Chambermaid, and the Furies and survives being bizarrely cast as Big Mama in Cat on A Hot Tin Roof thru sheer technique and presence. And the excerpts I've seen of her legendary Medea, if grander and more malevolent than what is usually done with the character today, is obviously a major portrayal.
Why are they remaking all of the BEST PICTURE WINNERS?!
It is FUTILE! I cannot even.
The original is one of the great masterpieces from Hitchcock. How can you top that?
@Peter- I'm surprised she got no Oscar love for Laura. The film was popular and got other nominations in important categories (directing and supporting actor) so voters knew about the movie. Judith Anderson appears in 4 of my top 100 movies, more than any other actress.
This is a beautifully written assessment of a perfect horror performance.
Having just watched the new REBECCA while the memory of this classic is still fresh in my mind (I re-watched it for that Olivier ranking), I was surprised by how much Kristin Scott Thomas made the role her own. Rather than evoking the vitriolic venom of Anderson's performance, she feels more brittle, her madness essentially different from the heartbroken folly of the original. Part of it is that Anderson was performing horror while Thomas is playing melodrama, but I was happy with the results. It worked, unlike most other elements of this new feature.
I love this version of Rebecca. Judith Anderson is chilling and the bedroom scene still gives me goosebumps. Your assessment of the latter scenes gives me a new perspective that I will remember when I watch this again. I first saw Rebecca as a four-part miniseries circa 1980. Anyone else see it? I liked it enough to read the book and then found the Hitchcock version.
I never though of Mr Danvers as a horror role but yeah I can see it now- "Rebecca" is Gothic romantic mystery . She is vampire/ghost/villain. The Zelscnick/Hitchcock "Rebecca" is a masterpiece I doubt any remake will be able to live up to it. (But i will watch the new one for Armie Hammer)
Fans of the wonderful Judith Anderson might like to read my biography, Judith Anderson: Australian Star, First Lady of the American stage for her extraordinary life and career in movies, television and on the stage.
I agree that Kristin Scott Thomas succeeds in the new Rebecca, but hers is a quite different interpretation, more fragile and not in any way erotic.