Old Hollywood
Cinema
1900-1979
Nostalgia is a seductive liar - George Wildman Ball
From Rebecca’s opening sequence (1940, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, based on Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca)  “Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden with supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me. The drive wound away in front of me, twisting and turning as it had always done. But as I advanced, I was aware that a change had come upon it. Nature had come into her own again, and little by little had encroached upon the drive with long tenacious fingers. And finally, there was Manderley - Manderley - secretive and silent as it had always been, the grey stone shining in the moonlight of my dream. I looked upon a desolate shell, with no whisper of a past about its staring walls. We can never go back to Manderley again.”

From Rebecca’s opening sequence (1940, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, based on Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca) 

“Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden with supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me. The drive wound away in front of me, twisting and turning as it had always done. But as I advanced, I was aware that a change had come upon it. Nature had come into her own again, and little by little had encroached upon the drive with long tenacious fingers.

And finally, there was Manderley - Manderley - secretive and silent as it had always been, the grey stone shining in the moonlight of my dream. I looked upon a desolate shell, with no whisper of a past about its staring walls. We can never go back to Manderley again.”

Judith Anderson in Rebecca (1940, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Judith Anderson in Rebecca (1940, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Franz Waxman - Main Title (Rebecca: The 1940 Film Score by Franz Waxman)

Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson in publicity still for Rebecca (1940, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) (via) “Her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Sometimes, when I walk along the corridor here, I fancy I hear her just behind me. That quick, light footstep. I could not mistake it anywhere. It’s almost as though I catch the sound of her dress sweeping the stairs as she comes down to dinner.’ She paused. She went on looking at me, watching my eyes. ‘Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now?’ she said slowly. ‘Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?’”  -Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca (1938)

Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson in publicity still for Rebecca (1940, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) (via)

“Her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Sometimes, when I walk along the corridor here, I fancy I hear her just behind me. That quick, light footstep. I could not mistake it anywhere. It’s almost as though I catch the sound of her dress sweeping the stairs as she comes down to dinner.’

She paused. She went on looking at me, watching my eyes. ‘Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now?’ she said slowly. ‘Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?’” 

-Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca (1938)