Hitchcock was superb of course, as was Judith Anderson as the wicked Mrs Danvers but the wonderful overlooked talent was the actress who played the appalling American lady Joan Fontaine worked for when she met de Winter - she was even nastier than Maxim, an absolute bounder superbly played by Olivier (with a nod to Noel Coward).

But I've said it before - in this time to honour Daphne du Maurier, the two strokes of pure genius were... the opening lines, for some reason the greatest in all literature, and the fact that the heroine never has a name.

Hitchcok, bless him, had the sense to keep both those gems in his film.

I completely agree. I absolutely love the film and it it turned a miserable afternoon into an enjoyable one.