Some have ranked Jamaica Inn among the worst of Hitchcock's films, including Hitchcock himself, but I don't think it's that bad. The story is interesting, and I think Maureen O'Hara does a great job as the plucky protagonist, while Charles Laughton holds my attention whenever he's on the screen. I don't understand why this film is so disliked.
Plot summary
In coastal Cornwall, England, during the early 19th Century, a young woman who's come there to visit her aunt, discovers that she's married an innkeeper who's a member of a gang of criminals who arrange shipwrecking and murder for profit.
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May 13, 2015 at 09:14 AM
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I disagree with Hitchcock
Spine-tingling Thriller!
Charles Laughton was brilliant as Sir Humphrey Pengallon, a local Cornish squire and Lord of the manor. He led a double life where he is respectable and admired while he is the local mob leader for a gang of local pirates led by Joss who lives with his wife Patience at the Jamaica Inn with a notorious reputation. When Mary, Patience's Irish niece, comes to live with them in Maureen O'Hara's film debut. She is brilliant as Mary. Actually the entire cast is first rate especially Charles Laughton in a masterful performance of such a diabolical character. Marie Ney is perfect as Joss's loving wife. You can see how Alfred Hitchcock's film career evolved from the silents and over the decades. His Jamaica Inn is an absolute classic!
Underrated Work of Alfred Hitchcock
In the Nineteenth Century, in Cornwall, a group of pirates leaded by Joss Merlyn (Leslie Banks) uses false beacon to misguide ships to wreck on the rocks of the coast; then they kill the survivors to rob the cargo and gather in the Jamaica Inn, a place of ill fame. When the Irish orphan Mary Yellen (Maureen O'Hara) travels to Jamaica Inn to live with her aunt Patience (Marie Ney), the coachmen of her stagecoach refuses to stop in the infamy inn, and Mary asks for help in the house of the magistrate of the Justice of the Peace Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton) that rides with her to the inn. Her aunt had not received her letter but lodges her in a room. During the night, Mary overhears the pirates hanging their mate Trehearne (Robert Newton); however, she saves his life and escapes with him. They run to the house of Sir Humphrey, where Treheame identifies himself as Officer of Law. However, they do not know that sophisticated and arrogant Sir Humphrey Pengallan is the head of the gang of pirates.
"Jamaica Inn" is an underrated work of Alfred Hitchcock. The story is too dark, especially considering that it was released in 1939. The cinematography in black white is magnificent, and Charles Laughton has an awesome performance in the role of the ambiguous Sir Humphrey Pengallan. Maureen O'Hara is also amazing in an unusual role in 1939 of a strong woman in her first lead role. The DVD released in Brazil by Continental Distributor has 89:41 minutes running time and it is visible the edition of the movie when Mary and Trehearne are lodged by Sir Humphrey. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "A Estalagem Maldita" ("The Damned Inn")