Rebecca (1940) ****

Though many critics have posited that Rebecca doesn't feel so much like a Hitchcock film as a Selznick production (the director and producer famously clashed and Hitch himself largely disavowed the film), I think time has proven otherwise. Maybe it's a sort of amalgam of the two men's styles, but ultimately it will be remembered as Hitch's film. It’s excellent and deserving of the heaps of praise that it receives. 

Hitchcock's first American film is heavy on the melodrama (aided by a moody score by Franz Waxman) but features an indelible performance from its female lead. Joan Fontaine perfectly portrays the shy, inexperienced, "uncultured" new wife—due in large part to Laurence Olivier's poor treatment of her due to his disapproval that Vivian Leigh (whom Olivier was dating at the time) was not cast as the nameless Mrs. de Winter #2. And Rebecca wouldn't be half as good without Judith Anderson's razor sharp portrayal of Mrs. Danvers, the sinister and disapproving housekeeper.

A psychological thriller with gothic style, this classic holds up on repeat viewings. In fact, I think it only gets better.