Review: Jamaica Inn
Maureen O’Hara,
newly arrived to visit her aunt and uncle saves Robert Newton from a vicious
band of cutthroats, led by Charles Laughton, an outwardly upstanding citizen of
society, but totally evil and gleefully corrupt. Emlyn Williams and Leslie Banks
are terrific as the despicable Harry, and Joss, the leader of the cutthroats
when Laughton isn’t around. Look out for character veteran Mervyn Johns (father
of character actress Glynis Johns) in a brief bit, in one of his first films,
and Basil Radford as one of Laughton’s guests (You might remember him as one of
the cricket-loving twits who stole several scenes in Hitchcock’s superior “The Lady Vanishes”).
Heavily maligned
(or at best, largely forgotten) 1939 Alfred Hitchcock (“Strangers on a Train”, “The
39 Steps”, “The Lady Vanishes”, “Vertigo”, “Lifeboat”) swashbuckling costumer actually isn’t all that bad, at
the end of the day. The one major problem is that ‘Alfred Hitchcock’ and
‘swashbuckling pirate movie’ do not go together. At all. Hitch just doesn’t
know what to do here, and as a result the film is mostly devoid of excitement
and merriment, and heavy on dialogue instead. It does, however, have some
interesting performances, chiefly the scenery-devouring Laughton, who somewhat
resembles the director physically. Laughton was apparently troublesome on set,
but at least he, Williams (in a superbly villainous part), and Banks (from
Hitch’s original version of “The Man Who
Knew Too Much”) seem to realise what kind of film they’re supposed to be
making and act accordingly.
O’Hara, in her
second film, is merely OK, and a very green Newton is a surprise in a
romantic-lead role, as opposed to the Long John Silver shtick he would later
become famous for (and is much better at, it has to be said).
Worth a look for
completists, and not a bomb, but this is one of the few Hitchcock films where
you wish another director was at the helm. Blasphemy, I know, but it’s true. Apparently
Hitch liked the film about as much as most audiences did (or du Maurier for
that matter). Of the 39 Hitchcock films I’ve thus far seen, I’d place this one
in 26th, in between both versions of “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, and “Family Plot”.
The screenplay is
by regular Hitchcock contributors Sidney Gilliat (“Champagne”, “The Manxman”,
“The Lady Vanishes”, “The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan”)
and Joan Harrison (“Rebecca”, “Suspicion”, “Saboteur”), with additional work by J.B. Priestley (“An Inspector Calls”), and based on the
Daphne du Maurier (“Rebecca”, one of
Hitch’s most overrated films) novel.
Rating: C+
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