Haunting ‘Rebecca’ Comes Back to Life

“Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” That classic phrase opens both Daphne du Maurier’s beloved novel “Rebecca” and the 1940 Oscar-winning film version, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick of “Gone With the Wind” fame.

The delicious melodrama stars Joan Fontaine as the mousy new wife of rich, handsome widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier). When she arrives with Maxim at Manderley, his mansion on the Cornwall coast, she discovers that the late Mrs. De Winter, Rebecca, casts a pall over the house, the brooding Maxim and the terrifying housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson).

Criterion’s lovely two-disc DVD set of “Rebecca” ($40) features a gorgeous new digital transfer with film and sound restoration that is far superior to any of the prints that have been circulating on video and TV.

The discs include terrific screen, makeup and costume tests of several actresses who vied for the role of the wife, including Fontaine, Anne Baxter, Loretta Young, Margaret Sullavan and Vivien Leigh. Young and Baxter were quite good in their tests, but Sullavan seemed too old and self-assured, while Leigh was overripe and artificial.

There is also footage without sound from the 13th annual Academy Awards ceremony, where “Rebecca” won for best picture.

The digital edition also includes an illustrated essay about Du Maurier, production correspondence on the casting and the clash in styles between Selznick and Hitchcock, the director’s casting notes, script excerpts of deleted scenes, and even a questionnaire that was given to preview audiences about the film at test screenings in 1939.

Film scholar Leonard J. Leff, author of “Hitchcock and Selznick: The Rich and Strange Collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick in Hollywood,” provides the informative commentary about the rather troubled production of the film. There are also several excerpts of Hitchcock’s conversations with director Francois Truffaut, taped in 1962 for the latter’s book “Hitchcock on Hitchcock,” and phone interviews recorded in 1986 between Leff and Fontaine and Leff and Anderson.

The disc includes three complete radio-broadcast versions of “Rebecca.” The first, from 1938, is a “Campbell Playhouse” adaptation starring Orson Welles and Sullavan, and includes an interview via shortwave radio with Du Maurier. A 1941 “Lux Radio Theater” broadcast stars Ronald Colman, who had turned down the movie, and Ida Lupino, and features an interview with Selznick. The third is a 1950 “Lux” starring Olivier and a very nervous, uncertain Leigh.

Also new from Criterion is the digital edition of Luis Bunuel’s last film, “That Obscure Object of Desire” ($40). Winner of the 1977 Oscar for best foreign language film, this dark comedy stars Fernando Rey as an urban widower obsessed with his maid, Conchita, who is played by two actresses, Angela Molina and Carole Bouquet.

The DVD includes a high-definition transfer of the film, which is based on Pierre Louys’ 1898 novel, “La Femme et Le Pantin”; a lengthy video interview with Jean-Claude Carriere, who co-wrote the script with Bunuel; the trailer; an optional English-dubbed track; and three excerpts from Jacques de Baroncelli’s 1929 silent adaptation of “La Femme et Le Pantin” (one of the sequences features full-frontal female nudity).

Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn team up for the first time since their 1996 indie hit “Swingers” in the comedy-drama “Made,” which Favreau also wrote and directed. For such a small film--the budget was just $5 million--the Artisan DVD ($25) has quite a few extras.

Favreau and Vaughn play two friends, struggling boxers who get into a ton of trouble when their mob boss (Peter Falk) sends them to New York on a simple job. Sean Combs (a.k.a. P. Diddy), Famke Janssen, Faizon Love and Vincent Pastore also star.

The special edition of “Made” includes three brief documentaries on the making of the film that feature interviews with Favreau, Vaughn and co-producer Peter Billingsley, who is best known as Ralphie in the 1983 holiday comedy “A Christmas Story.” There are also several deleted scenes with commentary by Favreau and Vaughn, very funny outtakes, alternate scenes, music cues and an editing workshop that allows you to re-edit a sequence from the film. Favreau, Vaughn and Billingsley also supply the funny, chummy commentary.

In 1980, Richard Rush’s dark comedy about illusion and truth, “The Stunt Man,” came out of nowhere to win plaudits as one of the best films of the year, receiving Oscar nominations for best actor (Peter O’Toole), best director (Rush) and best adapted screenplay (Rush and Lawrence B. Marcus). The Anchor Bay DVD ($20) features a nice wide-screen edition of the film, which is about a Vietnam vet (Steve Railsback) on the lam from the police who stumbles into a movie set and ends up becoming a stunt man for a war film being helmed by a maniacal and manipulative director (O’Toole).

The digital edition includes an introduction by Rush, deleted scenes, a still gallery, and commentary from Rush, O’Toole, Railsback, and co-stars Barbara Hershey, Alex Rocco, Sharon Farrell and Chuck Bail, who was also the second unit director.

Anchor Bay is also releasing the DVD of Rush’s new 114-minute documentary, “The Sinister Saga of Making ‘The Stunt Man’” ($20), which features terrific new interviews with O’Toole, Railsback and Hershey. Rush is the host and narrator. Both the documentary and “The Stunt Man” are available in a limited-edition set ($35).

Kathleen Quinlan, currently a regular on the CBS series “Family Law,” gives a lovely performance in the 1977 drama “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” (New Concorde, $20). Based on Hannah Green’s book of the same name, the disturbing drama finds Quinlan playing a young woman suffering from schizophrenia who lives in a world of her own creation. Bibi Andersson plays her psychotherapist, and Dennis Quaid pops up at the end as a pitcher at a baseball game. Anthony Page directed and Roger Corman produced.

The DVD includes an interview with Quinlan as well as a thoughtful commentary from the actress on select scenes from the film. However, the transfer is muddy, and only available in pan-and-scan.