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MY COUSIN RACHEL – Franz Waxman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Author Daphne du Maurier’s efforts to sell film rights for her 1951 novel My Cousin Rachel for $100,000 and 5% of the international box office was rejected by all of the major Hollywood studios except 20th Century Fox, whose counter offer of $80,000 was accepted. Nunnally Johnson was assigned production with a budget of $1.2 million, wrote the screenplay, and George Cukor was tasked with directing. Controversy arose when both Cukor and du Maurier both objected to the script, with bot departing the project when their revisions were rejected. Casting was also problematic with Cukor’s choice of either Greta Garbo or Vivien Leigh playing Rachel Sangalletti Ashley, fell through with his departure. Olivia de Havilland was instead brought in and joined by Richard Burton in his Hollywood debut as Philip Ashley, along with Audrey Dalton as Louise Kendall. Read more…
MY COUSIN RACHEL – Rael Jones
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
My Cousin Rachel is a sumptuous period drama-thriller from director Roger Michell, based on the classic mystery novel by Daphne Du Maurier, and is a remake of the original screen adaptation of the novel from 1952, which starred Olivia de Havilland and Richard Burton. This new version stars Rachel Weisz as the eponymous Rachel, a beautiful young woman who marries a wealthy English landowner named Ashley. Ashley dies in mysterious circumstances overseas, and leaves his estate to his much younger cousin, Philip (Sam Claflin). Philip suspects that Rachel had something to do with Ashley’s death, and resolves to exact revenge; as such, he is not at all surprised when Rachel returns to England and begins making romantic advances towards him. What is surprising is the fact that Philip unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with Rachel in return. Are Rachel’s feelings for Philip real, or is she just looking for her next victim on her way to claiming an inheritance of her own? The film, which co-stars Holliday Grainger and Iain Glen, drips with rich Victorian-era trappings and a brooding atmosphere of Gothic melodrama, and has been the recipient of a great deal of critical praise. Read more…
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