Reviewed by John Glover, Reference Librarian for the Humanities
Alfred Hitchcock was one of the best known directors of suspense films in the twentieth century, and this early film shows the skill he had attained years and even decades before his signature works. In this 1940 Oscar-winning film based on the 1938 novel of the same name, a young woman marries the secretive Maxim de Winter after a chance meeting in Monte Carlo, then returns with him to his estate in Cornwall and its house, Manderley. The plot follows the bride, whom we learn early on is the second Mrs. de Winter, as she attempts to escape the overpowering presence of her predecessor. From beautiful cinematography to spot-on acting, this movie has the power to surprise seventy years after its release.
This Criterion Collection edition contains commentary by film scholar Leonard J. Leff; isolated music and effects track; screen, hair, makeup and costume tests including Vivien Leigh, Anne Baxter, Loreeta Young, Margaret Sullavan and Joan Fontaine; Hitchcock on Rebecca, excerpts from his conversations with François Truffaut; phone interviews with Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson from 1986; behind-the-scenes photo gallery; production correspondence and casting notes; deleted scenes script excerpts; 1939 test screening questionnaire; footage from 1940 Academy Awards ceremony; re-issue trailer; three hours of radio show adaptations.
Cabell Media and Reserves DVDs PR6007.U47 R42 2001
Cabell Library PR6007.U47 R4 1938 (novel)
In a prolific life of singular literary achievement, Larry McMurtry has succeeded in a variety of genres: in coming-of-age novels like The Last Picture Show; in collections of essays like In a Narrow Grave; and in the reinvention of the Western on a grand scale in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove. Now, in Books: A Memoir, McMurtry writes about his endless passion for books: as a boy growing up in a largely "bookless" world; as a young man devouring the vastness of literature with astonishing energy; as a fledgling writer and family man; and above all, as one of America’s most prominent bookmen. He takes us on his journey to becoming an astute, adventurous book scout and collector who would eventually open stores of rare and collectible editions in Georgetown, Houston, and finally, in his previously "bookless" hometown of Archer City, Texas.
People, places, towns, and islands: all of these are haunted in Diary. 
Faulques, a war photographer, witnessed most of the wars of the end of the 20th Century, but he was never able to capture the photo that would explain the chaos of the universe. Now, as continues to try to understand it, he starts painting a grand circular fresco on the inside wall of a tower on the Mediterranean, disturbed by the memories of a woman he can never forget, and an unexpected visit: a man who wants to kill him.
Francisco D’Sai is a firstborn son of a firstborn son--all the way back to the beginning of a long line of proud Konkans. Known as the "Jews of India," the Konkans kneeled before the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama’s sword and before Saint Francis Xavier’s cross, abandoned their Hindu traditions, and became Catholics. In 1973 Francisco’s Konkan father, Lawrence, and American mother, Denise, move to Chicago, where Francisco is born. His father, who does his best to assimilate into American culture, drinks a lot and speaks little. But his mother, who served in the Peace Corps in India, and his uncle Sam (aka Samuel Erasmus D’Sai) are passionate raconteurs who do their best to preserve the family’s Konkan heritage. Friends, allies, and eventually lovers, Sam and Denise feed Francisco’s imagination with proud visions of India and Konkan history.