Vivien Leigh auditioned to play the female lead in the famous 1940 adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel, but Joan Fontaine was preferred instead. A good idea, too - Leigh was a fine actor, but too "strong" for that role; she would however have been a perfect Rebecca: bitchy, beautiful, unfaithful, witty, enchanting.
Losing the part must have annoyed her, so ten years later she played it for radio opposite her then-husband - he's excellent (he adapts his performance as the brooding, tormented Maxim for radio brilliantly), but she's not. She tries her best but she's just miscast - you don't believe she'd get swept up by Maxim, and be tormented by the memory of his ex-wife.
For all that this is an entertaining production, fascinating to listen to because of it's stars. It follows the film's changes by not having Maxim murder Rebecca - he just punches her out, then she falls over. So much better!
George Sanders and Judith Anderson are missed in their parts. At the end, Leigh and Olivier talk about their plans to take a tramp steamer back to England.
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