Another hole in my knowledge of the Hitchcock canon is filled, and so another film post is born. What a fascinating film this is, a curious blend of the Charles Laughton influence (he was in some ways the British Orson Welles) with the Hitchcock mold as set by 'The Thirty Nine Steps'. Or, if you prefer a different kind of fascinating, then just look at Laughton's incredibly strange false eyebrows, which were presumably accurate representations of the fashions of the time. What a creepy look that man had! It seems as if this version of 'Jamaica Inn' decided that evil would best be indicated by demented eyebrows and mad staring eyes...
To put 'Jamaica Inn' in context, this adaptation was released only three years after the publication of Daphne du Maurier's novel, and stands as the last entry in Hitchcock's British period. His next film would be 'Rebecca', kicking off the American era. Hitch's preceding film was 'The Lady Vanishes', which I like rather a lot, but this one is hard to quantify. In many ways, especially given Laughton's performance (which various people have described as 'ripe', 'hammy', or even 'broad') it's a satire, but in other aspects it's a straightforward adaptation of a bestseller, and also a Hitchcock adventure/thriller. Hitchcock always seemed a little limited when he did adaptations, trapped in between excellent source material and doing what he actually wanted to do. In this case, he also had Laughton to contend with, a domineering presence, and whatever modifications were made to the story in the adaptational process. This will be clearer when the novel makes it to the top of my reading piles.
'Jamaica Inn' is the story of the young lady Mary Yellen (Maureen O'Hara), newly orphaned, who arrives in Cornwall to live with her Aunt in the eponymous inn. Secretly, however, the aunt's husband is leader of a gang of merciless and murderous wreckers, who have already killed dozens of sailors, and take their orders from the bizarre and hereditarily mad Sir Humphrey Pengallan, who is also the local magistrate. Mary promptly, and with great prescience for a woman in a period novel, rescues a novitiate rebellious wrecker Traherne (Robert Newton) from the gang's murderous ways, and destroys the system they've built up over the years, thanks to said rescued wrecker being an undercover officer of the law.
Apparently, this film is regularly listed as one of the worst movies of all time, and declared Hitchcock's worst. It certainly does start badly, but picks up a little tension when Laughton's Pengallan is put in the middle of the action, being in on the raid that Traherne organises and cautiously biding his time until revealing his underhanded true nature. In fact, he takes so long to unmask himself as the villain to the gallant lady and policeman, that you begin to wonder if he'll get away with it! I can't see this is as one of the worst movies made, no. How curious a judgement that is. Bizarre...
'Jamaica Inn' is not Hitchcock's best, not at all, but there are good points to the film. Maureen O'Hara gives a solid performance, Laughton goes not so much over the top as overboard, and the acting is up and down by actor. There is some nice banter between some of the wreckers, who are well defined individually, but Newton comes off as a blander version of Michael Redgrave or Robert Donat, from Hitch's earlier films. It's a curiously enjoyable film, which even touches on spousal abuse, with the loyalty of Mary's aunt toward her wrecking and somewhat brutal husband. Hitch could get away with a lot more in his British years than he could in America.
O.
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