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One of my all time favorites.

Fresh and Exciting

As Good As It Gets

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Richard Burton plays Phillip Ashley, an orphan in 19th century Cornwall who grows up in the care of his wealthy cousin Ambrose who is part a father and part an older brother to him. As Phillip grows to manhood, Ambrose says he must go abroad for his health's sake, and although Phillip asks to go with him, Ambrose asks him to stay in Cornwall and take care of the estate.While abroad, Ambrose marries somebody named Rachel. Shortly thereafter, in Florence, he takes ill and writes letters saying that he believes Rachel is trying to kill him and asks for help. His last letter is practically incoherent. Phillip sails for Florence, but it is too late. Ambrose has died and the widow has moved out the day before Phillip's arrival.Phillip goes home with hatred in his heart for the person he presumes killed his beloved cousin who has been so good to him. But he doesn't have to worry about finding Rachel to accuse her, because she shows up at the estate in Cornwall, almost unannounced. She immediately goes about charming Phillip by being quite different from what he imagined. She seems genuinely mournful over Ambrose and completely alright with the fact that the entire estate went to Phillip rather than to her, the widow. She does not intend to challenge the will, which in those times she easily could have done. This completely disarms the loyal yet naïve Phillip.What is so great about this is that even though this is Burton's film, De Havilland's Rachel steals the show just from the Hitchcockian mystery with which she fills the part. You spend your entire time wondering what is going on with this woman. I felt that despite the warmth blended with disciplined composure she seems to radiate that there was something evil and calculating just under the surface, but I just can't tell you why.Then there are all of the facts that blur matters more. Ambrose's father died of a brain tumor. The way Ambrose was behaving at the end seemed to indicate the same thing, although in the 19th century there would be no way to know for sure except maybe an autopsy. If Rachel just wanted the estate, why didn't she make sure Ambrose wrote a new will with her inheriting BEFORE she started poisoning him, IF she was poisoning him in the first place? There are other pieces of "evidence" that seem to indicate Rachel has a homicidal streak and a greedy streak as well, but I'll let you watch and find out.There are plenty of touches with noirish connections, like voice-over narration and moody black and white cinematography. I'd give this an eight if it just didn't seem like, that for all that is great about it, there is just "a certain something" missing. I can't tell you what that is, but on Turner Classic Movies the other night, when they screened this, it was said during the introduction to the film by the host that George Cukor was originally set to direct, but then Henry Koster ended up getting the job. Koster was a more than adequate director over at Fox, but just did not have the same level of craft of Cukor.One rather minor detail that I found fascinating is how Rachel seems to go in and out of mourning at her convenience. When she first appears in Cornwall she is always wearing black, but as time passes and she gets chummy with Phillip the mourning clothes go away. When Phillip tries to press her for a marriage she says she never wanted and he feels led on, the mourning clothes come back out, as if to emphasize the impropriety of the relationship that she is at least saying she feels. I don't know if it was a mistake or a nice touch, but either way, I liked it.

This is an excellent adaptation of the Daphne De Maurier novel and the casting is very well done. Olivia de Havilland is excellent in the role of Rachel. Rex Harrison in his first US film is a young vibrant Philip Ashley. Any confusion with another man Olivia was married to in GWTW should be discarded. As the film starts, Philip is getting mystery letters from Rachel husband, his brother, that Rachel is killing him. The letters are so strange he makes as quick a trip as possible to his Italian Villa. By the time he arrives, it is too late, his brother is dead. When he meets Rachel, the letters have already given him a negative view of her. Then her beauty and plotting wins him over. His brother has left Philip the entire estate.Then Rachel starts to seduce him and manages to take everything Philip has inherited from him. Philip takes ill, and begins to suspect Rachel has something to do with his problems. This film smartly leaves it to the viewer to decide if Rachel was playing him and trying to kill him or not and the film plays the viewer to a lot of wonder as to who is doing what.

"This is what one moment of passion can bring on a man". It is the foreboding we are given from the hindsight of Philip, forever ridden with the memory of his self proclaimed blessed torment Rachel. A woman who is focused upon with great suspicion and secrecy as she places Philip in a heap of trouble. The narrative builds up to its mysterious and suspicious nature after Rachel marries Philip's Uncle before he becomes ill. This sets the mystic nature of My Cousin Rachel as the letters he sends to Philip become more erratic leading Philip to believe he is the victim of murder. As the situation with his Uncle progresses we question ourselves as to who is Rachel. This situation creates a predicament which we as the audience are attracted to. Rachel is purposely introduced in an inexplicable fashion to make us further question her character. Shot from behind our first glimpse of Rachel gives nothing away. All in black wearing a veil she makes her way into Philip's home with her back to us creating a feeling of uncertainty. When Rachel is finally revealed to us it takes ourselves and Philip off guard. Rachel greets Philip in a warm and friendly manner telling him stories of his family history as a way of making him feel comfortable around her while she secretly begins her plot.Rachel continues to perform time and time again to entice Philip into her wicked charm and it is only after Philip gives her everything he owns her delightful masquerade ends and she reveals her frank demeanour. "That was last night Philip and you had given me the jewels", Rachel states in a calm manner unashamed of her deceit. She comes across as a woman confident of her abilities indicating a deadly dilemma will follow. Although My Cousin Rachel is well known for its ambiguity it is hard not to be weary of Rachel. The way she conducts herself to others, eagerly wanting to acquaint with her former husband's friends, acting upon Philip's emotions and secret meetings with a questionable friend. All this and more makes it seem that Rachel is guilty. Yet it is this sense of doubt which drives My Cousin Rachel. It keeps us as the audience guessing just as much as the rest of the characters to the psyche of Rachel. We share a similarity with Philip as our mind is transfixed on solving the mystery. Besides from the enigma that is Rachel acting as the catalyst of the drama in My Cousin Rachel to engage the audience, Joseph LaShelle's black and white cinematography along with Franz Waxman's score brings the audience into a bleak environment full of torment and tragedy. A captivating story which is well acted by the likes of Burton, De Hillvilland and Dalton drawing the attention of the audience in with their performances but it is De Hillvilland's woman in black who leaves us with the lasting memory of My Cousin Rachel's Gothic nature.

Daphne DuMaurier returns to her beloved Cornwall coast to write My Cousin Rachel where she set many of her stories like Rebecca and Frenchman's Creek. Although this film has the breakout performance of Richard Burton in it, I would have to say that it's not as good as Rebecca.Burton's Philip Ashley and Maxim DeWinter of Rebecca are a pair of similar brooding characters each mourning the loss of someone close. In Burton's case it's his cousin John Sutton who took him in as an orphan and raised him like a son. Sutton with whom the foggy and damp climate of Cornwall doesn't agree has moved to Italy and leaves young Burton in charge of the Cornwall estate. Sutton also marries an Italian-English woman in Italy and he dies there.His will left everything to Burton, but as the widow she might have a case to contest. She's got herself an Italian lawyer in the person of George Dolenz who might just be more than her attorney.The title role of that new cousin by marriage is played by Olivia DeHavilland, her first screen appearance since winning her second Oscar for The Heiress. As My Cousin Rachel is set roughly the same time as The Heiress it's like Olivia stepped from film set right to the other despite the three year gap. Her performance also is like what Catherine Sloper evolved into in The Heiress, mannered, controlled, manipulating and shrewd.But one of the four bits of recognition the Academy gave My Cousin Rachel was a first Oscar nomination for Richard Burton. Inexplicably Burton is put in the Supporting Actor category and he's got more screen time than DeHavilland. As for Burton imagine Maxim DeWinter from Rebecca as a young man, Burton is 25 in this part and you've got his character. He's brooding and passionate and madlessly in love with his new cousin by marriage, but also incredibly suspicious that maybe DeHavilland might have helped Sutton along to his demise and that Dolenz helped her.You can't spoil this story because DuMaurier and the film leave it quite up in the air as to whether DeHavilland was a murderer or not. My Cousin Rachel also got Oscar nominations for Costume Design, Black and White Art&Set Direction and Black and White Cinematography. That estate is beautifully photographed, the set will remind of Manderley in Rebecca.My Cousin Rachel is not as good as Rebecca, but certainly has its place in cinema history as the big break performance for Richard Burton.