The 1940 film that was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film is Rebecca.
Rebecca was Hitchcock’s first Hollywood production and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. It adapts Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel and follows a young, unnamed woman who marries the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter before moving with him to Manderley, where the memory of his first wife dominates the household.
Laurence Olivier plays Maxim, Joan Fontaine plays his second wife, and Judith Anderson plays the intimidating housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. Hitchcock’s British filmmaking background remains visible in the film’s gothic atmosphere, restrained suspense, and English setting, even though the production was American.
Rebecca was a major critical and commercial success. It received 11 Academy Award nominations and won Best Picture and Best Cinematography. It is also the only Hitchcock-directed film to win Best Picture. The other options are later Hitchcock films: Foreign Correspondent and Suspicion came in 1940 and 1941, while Spellbound followed in 1945.