Jamaica Inn (1939)

In Cornwall, around 1800, a young woman discovers that she's living near a gang of criminals who arrange shipwrecks for profit.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Sidney Gilliat (screenplay), Joan Harrison (screenplay),

Stars:

Charles Laughton, Horace Hodges, Maureen O'Hara

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charles Laughton	...	Sir Humphrey Pengallan
Horace Hodges	...	His Butler
Hay Petrie	...	His Groom
Frederick Piper	...	His Agent
Herbert Lomas	...	His Tenant
Clare Greet	...	His Tenant
William Devlin	...	His Tenant
Jeanne De Casalis	...	His Friend (as Jeanne de Casalis)
Mabel Terry-Lewis	...	His Friend (as Mabel Terry Lewis)
A. Bromley Davenport	...	His Friend (as Bromley Davenport)
George Curzon	...	His Friend
Basil Radford	...	His Friend
Leslie Banks	...	Joss Merlyn
Marie Ney	...	Patience - His Wife
Maureen O'Hara	...	Mary - His Niece

Storyline

Set in Cornwall where a young orphan, Mary, is sent to live with Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss who are the landlords of the Jamaica Inn. Mary soon realizes that her uncle's inn is the base of a gang of ship wreckers who lure ships to their doom on the rocky coast. The girl starts fearing for her life.

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Plot Keywords:

inn | ship | cornwall | orphan | shipwreck | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Crime

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

La posada maldita

Filming Locations:

Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mayflower Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min 90 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was reportedly one of Alfred Hitchcock's most unhappy directing jobs. He felt caught between Charles Laughton and Laughton's business partners. Later, he said that he did not so much direct the film as referee it.

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Goofs

After Trehearne and Mary escape from the villains by swimming out to their boat, they wind up seeking refuge at Pengallan's home. While still in his soaking clothes, Trehearne pulls a dry folded piece of paper from his pocket.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Captain: Can you make out the beacon light?

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Crazy Credits

and introducing Maureen O'Hara

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Connections

References David Copperfield (1935)

User Reviews

Somewhat Interesting But Lesser Hitchcock

While Hitchcock's adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's "Jamaica Inn" has some interesting features, overall it deserves its reputation as one of the great director's lesser efforts. While it has some good moments and a good performance by Maureen O'Hara, it is rather clunky and often implausible.

The story holds some possibilities. At the beginning, we find out that there is an old inn along the coast of Cornwall, which serves as the meeting place for a gang of criminals, who deliberately cause shipwrecks and then rob and kill the survivors. O'Hara is the niece of the innkeepers, who comes to stay with them and then gradually discovers the inn's sinister secrets. This gives rise to a melodramatic series of chases, escapes, and showdowns in the inn and along the nearby seacoast.

Unfortunately, the pacing is quite irregular and often too slow, and some of the more fast-paced scenes sometimes seem implausible. Just as one example, there are too many times when someone slips away solely because whoever is doing the chasing forgets to look in a rather obvious place. There are also not enough interesting characters. O'Hara is good, and Charles Laughton is entertaining as Sir Humphrey. But Laughton over-plays his role for all it is worth, and he swallows up most of the other characters. There are some pretty good actors in the rest of the cast, who just don't get very much to do.

There are still some interesting developments, and a couple of decent twists. Hitchcock fans will probably still want to see "Jamaica Inn" at least once. But it is hardly one of the director's better films, and not really good enough to be of more general interest.