Rebecca – Book And Movie

I watched Hitchcock’s Rebecca at a friend’s place where they had some sort of marathon viewing Hitchcock movies. It revived my interest in reading Rebecca which though I had read , wasn’t very clear in my mind.
As to which one I liked better , I am still not able to come to a conclusion because the storyline has been faithfully maintained and executed with utmost perfection.

Book :

I have been a great fan of Daphne Du Maurier not only for Rebecca but also for Frenchman’s Creek.
With one of the most unforgettable opening lines , the book holds on to you. The timid new Mrs de Winter is in awe of most of the things at Manderley. She is always being compared to Rebecca , the late Mrs de Winter and made to feel she is not sophisticated enough for a mansion like Manderley. The root cause of troubles is the staunch silence her husband maintains in relation to Rebecca and the house keeping in charge Mrs Denver ( read evil personified, I just hated that lady)
She keeps falling in to the traps that Mrs Denvers sets for her. For our narrator it is as if people are trying to keep Rebecca alive even though she is no more. Does the narrator  have her happily ever after ? I am not going to give you that. Grab the book read it.

I do have some problems with the characters though. Firstly , why is our new Mrs de Winters such a mouse ? I literally wanted her to open her mouth , speak up and take a stand. It’s her husband’s house for God’s sake.Mrs Denvers doesn’t own it. But all you get from her are whining.

Secondly , what kind of husband would leave his wife with no explanation about his previous wife when he knows what she is going through at the house. Constant mention of Rebecca does not seem to strike as odd to him.

Other than these two things , I had no problem with the book. It was an absorbing read .

Book Rating : 4.5 out of 5

Movie :

I have to say I was  surprised that they stuck to the book for most part.  Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine suited well for the roles of Maxim and Mrs de Winter . The pace of the story is fast as is any Hitchcock movie. Only difference is mode of Rebecca’s death which differs in the movie version. With a movie as good as this I would gladly over look that. Another problem was that Mrs Denvers wasn’t as malicious looking as she had to be ,though she tried hard and I felt she was little too young for that role.I had imagined someone older for that role.

Movie rating :5 out of 5 ( I can’t give anything lesser than this for a Alfred Hitchcock movie )

Books vs Movie Challenge 2009

This is hosted by Royal Reviews for the year 2009.

The rules are simple:

In 2009 read a minimum of 6 books that have been made into movies and then watch the movie.

• Write a review on the Book vs the Movie
• Be honest about whether or not you think the film-maker was successful in translating the book to film. Please keep in mind that it is impossible to convey everything.
• You must both read the book and watch the movie within 2009. All genres are acceptable and it doesn’t matter when the movie was made.

Here’s my list:Vanity Fair

Doctor Zhivago

Marley And Me

Rebecca

Breakfast At Tiffany’s

Sophie’s Choice

Vanity Fair : Movie Vs Book

Having read and reviewed the book Vanity Fair recently ,after many years since having first read it, I thought , how much of the details of the plot I had missed the first time round. I was in school that time ,so can’t blame myself.

The thing that actually reminded me of the book was the movie Vanity Fair starring Reese Witherspoon (one of my fav ) directed by Mira Nair,which I watched a month back.I know it was released yrs ago. I hadn’t watched it before (Nothing against the movie 🙂 I watch movies at my leisure ,sometimes long after their release and seriously try to avoid watching movies which are book adaptations. )Somehow I ended up watching this one . Big Mistake! ! I knew I should have stuck to the book when I saw that all of the director’s efforts were making Becky Sharp a symbol of women power,which she definitely wasn’t.Atleast not in a positive ,justifying sort of way.She is one of the best liked anti heroines of all time .She must have been left that way.Here she was being portrayed as a feminist and was being justified too. To top it, Amelia Sedley ,who in the book is naive and sweet was somewhat of a dim in the movie. The dances and the gory reddish sets they used for the effect didn’t help in anyway. As if this wasn’t enough we even got a alternate ending. No thank you..Very happy with the book ending.

Creative liberty the film makers take is acceptable as long as it doesn’t take off the charm of the book but its horrible when they slash it up and trivialise the vital plot . I know its difficult to get a 700-800 pg book turned into a 3 hour movie without making changes in them but that must not leave the viewer complaining.

Now there can be good adaptations too , like the BBC Book adaptations. I watched that one just for the sake of comparing 🙂 Result: Absolutely loved it.Natasha Little as Becky Sharp was perfect.Beautiful and cunning. True to the book for most of the part , it brought out the essence wonderfully.Thackeray would have liked it,I am sure.Other actors too were great and aptly cast.This did make me feel better.

So the end result: 1 book 2 movies .Thrash the first one Watch the second one

On second thoughts, go read the book 😉