Rebecca

I remember watching this in serial form on public television with my wife and then 10 year old son. We were mesmerized by it. While the Hitchcock version is terrific, we all wish we could obtain a video of this TV version. Diana Riggs' version was a disappointment...perhaps because we kept comparing it with the Hitchcock version and with our memory of this version.

The BBC are still refusing to release this superior production of 'Rebecca' officially, but I have finally been able to view a copy, many years after first hearing about it.

So, does it match up to all the discussion and speculation? Close to the book, and well-cast (Jeremy Brett as Maxim, Joanna David - whose daughter Emilia Fox appeared in another Rebecca twenty years later - as the second Mrs De Winter, Anna Massey - the former Mrs Brett - as Mrs Danvers, and Julian Holloway as Jack Favell), it certainly does not disappoint. In four episodes it involves the viewer while making a good stab at translating a complicated book to the screen.

Not broodingly Gothic like Hitchcock's version with Olivier, or convoluted like the Emilia Fox/Charles Dance version, the 1970s Rebecca stands up well against a selection of other period dramas made at the same time by the BBC. Certainly it seems unfair that it is suppressed from view in the UK - the US has had TV repeats, although no video or DVD.

This Rebecca unfolds the same way Du Maurier wrote her novel. In fact when Gene Shalit hosted this showing on Mystery he told how Ms. Du Maurier had commented it was the truest telling of her book. Yet that isn't what compels the viewer; it's Jeremy Brett as Maxim, Joanna David as the second Mrs. DeWinter, poor dear who has no first name, and Anna Massey as Mrs. Danvers. Julian Holloway is wonderful as Favell. The entire cast is flawless. The sets are as you would picture Manderly. Truly you go back to Manderly again...

Really, I'd love to see this once more, then over and over again. Please whomever has the power to bring this to DVD, do it. New fans will flock to this best version of Rebecca.

This was a four part movie on PBS. I did not care much for fiction at the time, but after the second night, I went out and bought the book so I could find out what the finish was. I watch Rebecca nearly every time it is showing.

I remember seeing this on the TV when it first came out as a teenager and have never forgotten it. However as I have got older I remember it as a film and not a series, either way it was brilliant and Joanna David was the perfect casting as the young Mrs De Winter and Anna Massey is perfect as the housekeeper - Mrs Danvers - I remember her being very scary! The house it was filmed at was amazing and really set the scene for this fantastic programme. I only wish it was available on video or DVD as I would love to see it again. Throughly recommend it to anyone.