Continuity mistake: When the girl helps Frank by licking a stamp and putting it on an envelope, Frank gets up from the table, holding two pieces of folded paper in his right hand and goes to the filing cabinet to get a folder out, with the papers still in his right hand. When he goes to return to his seat, the papers are now in his left hand.
Continuity mistake: On the way back from London, Maxim is pretending to drive a right-hand driven car, with Frank beside him, in a studio, with a screen behind them, but when they have body doubles driving in real-life, the car is a left-hand driven car, but only for a minute or two, and then they go back to the studio car.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning, in the hotel foyer, at Monte Carlo, the girl has a cup and saucer in her lap. When Maxim joins them, the girl is holding the cup and its handle is on the right, then she's not holding the cup, it's just resting in her lap, then she's holding it and the handle is on the left.
Continuity mistake: When Maxim's sister and the girl sit down to chat, just the two of them, the sister, before sitting down, drops her purse at the back of the seat, then sits down, but in the next shot her purse is on her lap.
Continuity mistake: As the newlyweds are coming down the drive to Manderley, in an open-top car, it starts to rain. But before it does rain, the girl's hair goes from perfect to mussy. Her hair is made to look rained-on before it should.
Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the film, in the foyer of the hotel, Joan Fontaine is seen drinking coffee but in the next shot she's reading the newspaper.
Chosen answer: Maxim was previously married (unhappily) to Rebecca, who died tragically and under rather mysterious (and suspicious) circumstances, sparking rumors. Maxim thinks his new wife is referring to that, but she knows nothing about it and was only making an innocent remark, unaware of the rumors. The "rude, hateful" part probably refers to the "dull and gauche and inexperienced" comment - she probably thinks that is what caused his reaction, rather than the "gossip" comment, given she doesn't know the rumors. She is very young and naive and feels inadequate as the wife of a wealthy man. Maxim is older, intimidating her somewhat, and she was confused by his angry outburst.
raywest ★