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")

If it weren't for the cinematography we wouldn't recognize Hitchcock. He must have liked Daphne DuMaurier, using the Birds and Rebecca later. This is just a pretty confusing, pedestrian film, with some great actors. The story is, however, quite bland. It involves the arrival of a beautiful young woman at the evil Jamaica Inn. The inn is the hiding place for a band of pirates who lure ships unto the rocks,murder the crew, and pillage. The head of the organization is Charles Laughton at his pompous, window, Henry VIII best. He is in control of every scene, overacting and winking at the audience. The young woman is caught up in her trust for this man, and finds herself in his clutches by the end of the movie. The rest of the band, including Robert Newton (A-a-a-r) from Treasure Island are quite photogenic. It's an OK movie but just a little too much to swallow. I had always been curious with it and am investigating the Hitchcock films I had never seen.

I had heard about this movie from Harry Medved's fantastic book THE FIFTY WORST FILMS OF ALL-TIME, as it is one of the 50. Because of that, I probably had a slight predisposition to dislike the film--though I liked it more than Medved, as it was not even close to being that bad! But, I could easily see that Medved's recounting of how the film was made would conspire to make a poor movie. Apparently, Alfred Hitchcock was the director of this film, but Charles Laughton was both the star and owned the production company. Apparently, again and again, Laughton ignored his director and instead of a subtle or believable performance, he was shrill and bellicose--looking nothing like the great actor he was in some of his other films. In fact, I noticed in several of his early films, Laughton yelled his lines and over-acted terribly and without a director in firm control, I could really see it impact the film. Plus, apparently, in disgust, Hitchcock pretty much gave up on the film and quickly completed it so he could leave England for Hollywood. If this troubled production in any way contributed to his decision to leave the UK, I just don't know.

Apart from the overacting by Laughton, the biggest problem is that I expected a mystery or suspense film. But, as the "secrets" of the film were revealed in the first few minutes (duh--it was pretty obvious that young Maureen O'Hara had walked into a nest of vipers),there was no suspense or mystery at all. Like the silly nose that Laughton wore throughout the film, the movie just seemed fake and silly--just not bottom 50 bad--maybe bottom 250!