BEFORE: I made a chain that should get me through to the end of summer, and to October 30 after that. There are a LOT of great films in that chain that I'm eager to see, and I've also managed to work in the FOUR films playing in theaters this summer that I really want to see, so of course I'm really hesitant to change the plan now, I just want to put my head down, watch THESE films in THIS order, and get through the dog days. However, this means that in order to get to "Ant-Man 3" this weekend, I've got to repurpose two films that probably should belong in a February romance chain. Ah, well, it's not like I haven't watched movies like "Alien: Covenant" outside of October, or messed around with the order of things when it suits me to do so.
I'm still a ways away from figuring out what WILL be in the February chain next year, but I've taken a look at how many connections there are between the romance films on my list, and I've determined that I'll probably be OK. Tomorrow night's film is also a romance, but it's one that got cut from THIS year's chain, for linking reasons, and I think I'll watch it tomorrow as a make-up. So there you go. There was a bit of romance in yesterday's movie, and that's going to carry me through almost all the way to the errant "Ant-Man" film.
Kristin Scott Thomas carries over from "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen".
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Rebecca" (1940) (Movie #1,736)
THE PLOT: A young newlywed arrives at her husband's imposing family estate on a windswept English coast and finds herself battling the shadow of his first wife, Rebecca, whose legacy lives on in the house long after her death.
AFTER: This is a movie that really comes to us from a different time, and when you do a retro thing like this, sure, you can try to put a modern spin on it, but inherently, at heart, you have to bear in mind that this story is set way back in the past - of course, I'm talking about 2020, before Armie Hammer got cancelled. He was red hot, career-wise, after making "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Call Me By Your Name" but then there were all kind of allegations against him starting in 2021, and then he got dropped by his agent and publicist, and when last seen by the press, I think he was working for some Cadillac dealership under another name. Weird, I know, but he hasn't been in a film since "Death on the Nile" came out, and the funny thing is that he had to publicly admit that he was an emotionally abusive boyfriend, but in the end there were no charges ever filed against him, the L.A. District Attorney cited insufficient evidence. (Which doesn't mean, necessarily, that nothing ever happened, but then again, it could...)
Hey, so he's been out of work for a while - right now ALL the actors are on strike, so they all kind of cancelled themselves, and right now, we don't know how that whole thing is going to end. What if there are no new TV shows or movies coming out in the next year? Actually, that won't happen, because already some TV series and movies, smaller ones, are requesting waivers to work during the strike - I'm not sure what those productions have to DO to get waivers, but waivers ARE being granted. So we'll see. Maybe Armie Hammer can stage a comeback, either by working on a union-sanctioned production, or just waiting for Hollywood to get very desperate. Can they still make a sequel to "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."? Then again, maybe Hollywood doesn't need a guy with the good looks of Michael Fassbender and the same voice as Jon Hamm. (Listen to them side-by-side if you don't believe me, but they have the SAME VOICE.)
"Rebecca", of course, is based on a classic novel by Daphne DuMaurier, who might be the world's most famous Daphne if you don't count the Scooby-Doo character. And the 1940 film adaptation was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which was, at the time, a very very smart decision, as Hitchcock was still up-and-coming, sure he'd made "The 39 Steps" and "The Lady Vanishes", but was clearly destined for greater things, and "Rebecca" was right in his wheelhouse - starts out as a free-wheeling romance between a young jet-setting woman and a slightly older widower who's ready to take that chance again. Everything's great until they get back to Manderley, the house with all the secrets, the place where Maxim lived with the first Mrs. De Winter, and they still haven't moved any of her stuff! Or her staff, for that matter, and the only thing creepier than Rebecca's old rooms looking exactly the same as when she was alive is the fact that the staff all seems to think they still work for Rebecca, even though she's dead and not coming back. Why Maxim De Winter didn't just fire the staff members that were more loyal to his dead wife is beyond me, I guess they had lifetime contracts or something.
This is something I noticed after watching the 1940 film - the main character, who becomes the 2nd Mrs. De Winter, was never given a first name. Huh? Who is she, then? What do I call her? This remake continues this bizarre practice, like how do you have her in every key scene without the other characters ever referring to her by name? Let me just check Wikipedia here - ah, in the original novel the character is also unnamed, I guess the author wanted every woman to read the book and imagine herself as the character, and giving her a name might have gotten in the way of that? It's still pretty bizarre. Like imagine the first "Star Wars" film if Luke didn't have a name, how the hell would people address him or get his attention, and more importantly, how am I supposed to refer to him, as "the farmboy who joins the rebellion and blows up the Death Star", over and over?
Now I could say that the actress plays her so dry and unfeeling here that maybe she doesn't even deserve a name, but that's neither here nor there. And Armie Hammer took on a role that was played by Laurence Olivier in the 1940 film - yeah, good luck with that, those are some pretty big shoes to fill. Well, he might as well go for it, since he's going to get cancelled anyway in just a few short years.
Anyway, once the first act is over and Maxim de Winter steals whats-her-name away from her 90 pounds-a-year job traveling the world with Mrs. Van Hopper, they go back to Manderley and the games begin - it's the unnamed second wife against the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. And the young bride doesn't even know the rules of the game, so it's hardly a fair fight. She accidentally learns that there are so many rooms in the giant house that a whole wing is still decorated according to Rebecca's wishes, and the rooms are maintained as if she's still alive. Well, I guess if you've got that many rooms you can spare a few, right? And then there's a creepy boathouse down the beach, where there are some more of Rebecca's things, and then Rebecca's cousin comes around, apparently to visit Mrs. Danvers - maybe they've got a thing going on, but Danvers denies it.
For some reason, the 2nd Mrs. M goes riding on a horse with Jack, Rebecca's cousin, and this infuriates Maxim, who accuses her of being unfaithful. OK, so Maxim's got some trust issues, but miss no-name clearly doesn't understand boundaries, either. Then 2nd Mrs. M. decides to bring back the custom of having an annual ball, and Mrs. Danvers suggests that she wear a dress of a de Winter ancestor, but she "forgets" to mention that Rebecca wore this dress at a previous ball, so Maxim gets angry again when he sees his new wife wearing a dress that his dead wife once wore. Again, he's got trust issues, but she's got boundary issues.
Everything changes when a storm brings in a shipwreck, and Rebecca's body, thought to be lost at sea, is aboard the ship. Well, the good news is that the authorities can finally do a proper investigation of her death, but then the bad news is that the authorities can finally do a proper investigation into her death. All the secrets start to come out about the true nature of Maxim's marriage to Rebecca, and our unnamed heroine finds out that everything she assumed about that relationship was incorrect, the truth is vastly different. I won't give away all the secrets here, but the latter part of this story is filled with blackmail threats, secret doctor visits and loads of infidelity charges. There's a trial and the investigators come to a conclusion, but is it the right one?
Mrs. Danvers gets fired - FINALLY - but man, she goes down swinging. Gotta give it up for her. Hey, if you can make it through the first half of the film, grab some caffeine and make sure you stay awake for the last half-hour, when everything happens. It's maybe not the gothic romantic horror film that it could have been, instead they just settled for a classic "Law & Order" twist, but that's also an acceptable way to go, I guess.
Also starring Lily James (last seen in "The Dig"), Armie Hammer (last seen in "Final Portrait"), Keeley Hawes (last seen in "Death at a Funeral" (2007)), Ann Dowd (last seen in "Side Effects"), Sam Riley (last seen in "Radioactive"), Tom Goodman-Hill (last seen in "Everest"), Mark Lewis Jones (last seen in "Child 44"), John Hollingworth (last seen in "1917"), Bill Paterson (last seen in "Into the Storm"), Ben Crompton (last seen in "Before I Go to Sleep"), Jane Lapotaire (last seen in "The Young Messiah"), Jeff Rawle, Pippa Winslow (last seen in "The King's Man"), Lucy Russell (last seen in "Without Remorse"), Ashleigh Reynolds, Bryony Miller, Poppy Allen-Quarmby, David Cann (last seen in "Greed"), Julia Deakin (last seen in "The World's End"), Colin Bennett, David Horovitch (last seen in "The Sense of an Ending"), Steven Waters, David Appleton.
RATING: 5 out of 10 oysters (for breakfast?)
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