"Rebecca" - "A Sucessora" - "Manuela" - "Isabella,mujer enamorada
by Alexander Zhukov
Hi Anita!
You may call me Alex.
I'm from Russia.
"Rebecca" (1938) contains only some things
("the housekeeper terrifies the second wife") common to the story of "Manuela" or "Isabella",
(about 15%). The first wife is dead, the housekeeper (probably) is not her mother, the faces of Rebecca and the second wife are different.
Far more close to this story is the book of Carolina Nabuco ("A Sucessora", 1938, original in Portuguese). I had not read it , from some friends I know that in this book:
1) both heroines - Alice (1st wife of Roberto) and Marina are twins, but their mother is dead. The housekeeper is the godmother of Alice.
2) Alice and Roberto have an accident in the sea,
after that Alice looses memory for some time,
and there appear some scars on her body (not on the face). Therefore when she returns to the house, she is hiding.
3) the end is very different....However, many other details are the same - the story of sterility of Alice, etc.
In the telenovela "A Sucessora" (1978)Manoel Carlos added details of psycho terror from "Rebecca".
In "Manuela" has been done the same, so really the ideas belong to Carolina Nabuco and Daphne Du Maurier. Manoel Carlos was first who joined these ideas in one storyline. "Manuela" is also based on these 2 books, but is not a remake of Manoel Carlos's telenovela. Some very important details were changed:
1) now the housekeeper (Bernarda) is the genuine mother of the first wife (Isabel Guerrero);
2) No more standard tricks with memory loosing,
and the scars are now on the face, so the face is totally destructed and Isabel is wearing a mask.
3) many detais in the second part and the end are completely changed.
All this very dramatized and enhanced the story, adding completely new spirit. And most subplots are new.
In Manuela the second wife (Manuela) is 10 years yonger (as in "Rebecca"), but now she has a face the same that Isabel had 10 years before(they both have the same father).
In "Isabella..." both heroines (Clara and Isabella) are twins, as in "A Sucessora", and the housekeeper (Leandra) is their mother, but she does not accept Isabella as her dauther , and Clara does not accept Leandra as the mother, but is forced to get help from her.