Rebecca is one of Hitchcock's many thriller masterpieces that stars academy award winning actors Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine and marked Hichcock's US debut. The film follows the story of a young woman (Fontaine) who works as a paid companion to a weathly Mrs Van Hopper. On a trip to Monte Carlo with her employer she meets an aristocratic widower named Maxim De Winter (Olivier) and falls in love with him. He then proposes to her and takes her to his country house in Manderley where the new Mrs De Winter is haunted by the lingering memory of Maxim's deceased wife.
The film opens with the credits fading in and out of the foreground whilst scenes of a misty, dark wood play in the background. The fading credits introduce the theme of a haunting presence and could represent the fading then reappearence of the memory of Rebecca which disrupts the happiness of the new Mrs. De Winter with her new husband.
The mise-en-scene of the opening scene is very dark and misty and various wide shots reveal bare trees and a gothic looking wood. The non-diegetic music that plays along with the opening credits acts as an overture, introducing the different themes of the film. A heavy orchestral piece plays, remeniscent of a 1930s waltz- implying wealth and romance in the narrative. The waltz-like music is then contrasted by the low pitched flute and piano piece suggesting a disruption to the happiness and romance that the waltzy music suggests. The music then fades into a very quiet drawn out flute sound and minor piano chords creating a sense of suspense as a wide shot shows dark clouds blowing over the moon.
Hand held camera is then used to track down a mysterious looking path which has been consumed by overgrowth creating the illusion that someone is walking through the wood. A voice of a woman is heard as a non-diegetic voice over, she seems to be reminiscing about her previous experiences in the present location.
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