JAMAICA INN
UK, 1939, 108 minutes, Black and white.
Charles Laughton, Maureen O’ Hara, Leslie Banks, Emlyn Williams, Robert Newton, Mervyn Johns.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Jamaica Inn was the last film that Alfred Hitchcock made in the United Kingdom. For more than fifteen years he had made a series of excellent films, generally crime dramas, in the silent era as well as sound films during the 1930s. These include such classics as The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Secret Agent, Saboteur, The Thirty Nine Steps. He was then to go to the United States and remain making films there for over thirty years until he returned in the early 70s to make Frenzy.
The film is an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel, Jamaica Inn, adapted by film writer and director Sidney Gilliat. Hitchcock’s first film in the United States, winner of the Oscar for best film of 1940, was an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Du Maurier was also the author of the novel on which Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) was based.
This is not typical Hitchcock material. Rather, it is about pirates and smugglers off the Cornish coast around 1800. Charles Laughton portrays the local landowner who, in fact, is the leader of a gang of thieves. His agent is the owner of Jamaica Inn, played by Leslie Banks. The niece of his wife, played by a still teenage Maureen O’ Hara, is sent from Ireland to the care of her aunt and uncle. She discovers what was going on, especially in her discovery of a man about to be hanged who turns out to be an officer: an unlikely Robert Newton.
Charles Laughton is very strong in the central role of the villain. He and Maureen O’ Hara were to go to the United States the same year to make the classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The film is a rousing adventure, remade in the 1980s with Jane Seymour and Patrick Mc Goohan. The plot was also very similar to that of Fritz Lang’s Moonfleet, 1955, with Stewart Granger and George Sanders.
1. How enjoyable a costume melodrama? The world of Daphne du Maurier? A Hitchcock film – thriller, suspense?
2. This was the final film in Hitchcock's English period. Does it in any way sum up his English achievement? Indicate directions in America? What particular elements of his style and attitude did he bring to this costume melodrama?
3. The title the focus on the sign, the build-up of the sinister atmosphere, the fear for the audience? The use of black and white photography, locations and studio sets, music? The coastal atmosphere?
4. The device of the audience entering this area of England and its remoteness with Mary her charm, the coach trip, coming from Ireland, expectations, looking for her sister, the talk about the inn and the sinister behaviour of coachmen and horses? Her being left in the middle of nowhere? the irony of her seeking out the house and finding Sir Humphrey? The irony of her talk and revelation to him? Was the audience suspicious? How effective a setting of the scene? The beauty of the house and the wealth compared with the inn?
5. What expectations of the Inn and its inmates did the audience have? The build-up of talk about the inn and the evil doings? Joss and his leadership and strength? The contrast with Patience, irony of her name? The various pirates there and their evil character? The atmosphere of evil? The irony of the disguised policeman? The importance of showing the scenes of dashing the ships to pieces, the plunder, the actual murdering of the crew? Any audience sympathy with these pirates?
6. The film's strong focus on Sir Humphrey and Charles Laughton's almost grotesque performance? The irony of Sir Humphrey and his wealth, status in the area, Magistrate. two-faced attitude towards justice? His skill in keeping face, his deviousness in communicating with Joss, the devices of communicating the information? His suave deviousness with Mary? How well delineated was the character of Sir Humphrey? How grotesque?
7. Was the character of Jose developed, his forcefulness, brutality, survival? Patience and her presence there and love for her husband despite everything?
8. The irony of the policeman being discovered, his being about to be killed and rescued by Mary, his hiding with her? The scenes on the coast? The irony of his being tied up with Sir Humphrey and then becoming the victim? His narrow escapes in being killed?
9. How did the film build up to a climax with the various revelations. the eager anticipation of the ship after the information had been given? Mary and the policeman escaping, being chased? The storm, the coast? The various deaths in the house including Patience and Joss?
10. The build-up to the revelation against Sir Humphrey, his madness revealed, the irony of his climbing the mast and the violence of his fall to death?
11. An appropriate happy ending for this kind of costume melodrama? Was the film anything more than an ordinary costume short story? Any exploration of human values?
