Walking Again in Manderley

British author Daphne Du Maurier was born on May 13, 1907. She became a well-known and popular writer of such wonderful novels as “Rebecca” written in 1938. Born in London, England she was educated in Paris, France. Creativity ran in the family since her father was a well-known actor and theater manager. After visiting the Cornwall coast of England she chose to make her home there and it became the setting for many of her novels.

Her most popular novel is “Rebecca” which was also made into a movie. It tells the story of a man whose first wife Rebecca died under mysterious circumstances. While vacationing in Montecarlo he meets a plain young woman totally the opposite of his dead wife. He chooses to marry the woman who is much younger than he is and takes her back to his home Manderley. What is interesting is that both in the book and the movie the story of this man Maxim de Winter is narrated by his new, young wife and we never discover what her name is. 

The main plot of the story takes place in the fictitious mansion Manderley. The mansion was modeled after Du Maurier's own 70-room house called Menabilly. The movie “Rebecca” came out in 1940 and was brilliantly directed by the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. I can say that I walked through Manderley with fear in my heart. I felt the presence of the spirit of Rebecca and sympathized with the shy and rather clumsy young second wife. 

Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper of Manderley, was portrayed by Judith Anderson. She played the role with a poker face and you could understand why the young wife was afraid of her. All the actors and actresses brought the characters from the pages of the book to life among them Laurence Olivier as the owner of Manderley Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife and the narrator of the story, Judith Anderson as Mrs Danvers and George Sanders as Jack Favelle, Rebecca’s “cousin”.

Those that side with the young wife and help her keep sane when Maxim goes away on business and she is left alone in the house with the frightening housekeeper are Frank Crawley, Maxim's friend and estate manager portrayed by Reginald Denny, Maxim's sister Beatrice Lacey by Gladys Cooper and her husband Major Giles Lacy by Nigel Bruce. However, none of them can help the young wife when with pleasure she arranges a masquerade party at Manderley as it was done in the old days and Mrs Danvers suggests the costume she should have made for herself. The young wife never gets to enjoy the party as a result of making a grave mistake with the costume and is sent to change by her husband. It is at this time when a vessel runs aground in the bay near Manderley and the story takes a thrilling turn and we finally discover the true story of Rebecca and the kind of woman she really was. 

This thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat and since at the beginning of the movie we already know that Manderely no longer exists having been destroyed by fire I can say that the compensation is that since it was the evil doing of Mrs Danvers the fire also took her with it as the house crumbled. To find out the complete story watch the movie. Once you have seen the movie you will want to return to Manderley again and watch the movie once more always noticing some things you had not noticed before. In 1941 “Rebecca” won the Oscar for Best Picture. 

The trailer of the 1940 film “Rebecca”

Du Maurier was granted the ceremonial title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1969. She continued to write works of fiction, memoirs, histories and biographies until she died in 1989.

The famous opening lines of “Rebecca”:

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again... I came upon it suddenly; the approach masked by the unnatural growth of a vast shrub that spread in all directions... There was Manderley, our Manderley, secretive and silent as it had always been, the gray stone shining in the moonlight of my dream, the mullioned windows reflecting the green lawns and terrace. Time could not wreck the perfect symmetry of those walls, nor the site itself, a jewel in the hollow of a hand.

Sitting and reading or watching the movie and hearing these lines makes you imagine such a place and how wonderful it would be to see it. But perhaps we all have our own Manderleys, oh nothing as big and glamorous as the house in the book and movie but a place that we love with all our hearts and return to again and again, even if only in our memories.