Rent Jamaica Inn (1939)

Innocents Among Thieves - Jamaica Inn review by griggs

An interesting and engaging, if not exactly rollicking, film. Jamaica Inn is a murky tale of smuggling and skulduggery on the Cornish coast told with more theatrical flourish than historical accuracy. The whole wrecking subplot—locals luring ships to their doom—is pure invention, that has been repeated countless times, but it makes for dramatic set-pieces, even if you spend half the film wondering why no one owns a lantern.

Charles Laughton gives the sort of performance that seems beamed in from another, much weirder movie—grandiose, unpredicatable, and clearly enjoying himself more than anyone else onscreen. He steals scenes with abandon, often from characters who barely noticed they were in one due to his presence.

The rest is a bit stiff, the romance undercooked, the action sometimes staged, and the direction—despite being Hitchcock—more workmanlike than inspired. Still, there's something charming about its foggy earnestness. It gets the job done, even if it feels more like a theatrical diversion than a full-blooded adventure.

Cornish melodrama (spoiler). - Jamaica Inn review by Steve

I've seen this on a list of worst ever films. It's nowhere near that bad, but there isn't much of Alfred Hitchcock's signature style. It was made by Charles Laughton's production company as a vehicle for the actor and it's not obvious why the Master got involved. They clashed throughout.

It's the first of three adaptations by Hitchcock of stories by Daphne Du Maurier; this one about wreckers on the Cornish coast who lure cargos onto the rocks. It was filmed on location including the actual Jamaica Inn and there is some nice atmosphere drawn from the scenery. But it's ultimately a bit of a drag.

This is historical melodrama, rather than a thriller. And Hitch doesn't give us many classic visual touches. The best moment is when Laughton as the ringleader of the smugglers jumps to his death from the rigging of a merchant ship, viewed from above. The star overacts shamefully.

There is something wrong when the most restrained performance is by Robert Newton. Margaret O'Hara is feisty in her first leading role (Laughton took her to Hollywood to star in Hunchback of Notre Dame). It doesn't take Hitch long to get her down to her underclothes and into bondage. Which is at least one of his recurring motifs.