La taverne de la Jamaïque

Charles Laughton was brilliant as Sir Humphrey Pengallon, a local Cornish squire and Lord of the manor. He led a double life where he is respectable and admired while he is the local mob leader for a gang of local pirates led by Joss who lives with his wife Patience at the Jamaica Inn with a notorious reputation. When Mary, Patience's Irish niece, comes to live with them in Maureen O'Hara's film debut. She is brilliant as Mary. Actually the entire cast is first rate especially Charles Laughton in a masterful performance of such a diabolical character. Marie Ney is perfect as Joss's loving wife. You can see how Alfred Hitchcock's film career evolved from the silents and over the decades. His Jamaica Inn is an absolute classic!

At the beginning XIX century , Cornualles , where rules and inquisitive judge , Sir Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton) . There is going a young orphan called Mary (a gorgeous Mauren O'Hara is eighteen years old) to live with her uncle (Leslie Banks) , owner of the Jamaica Inn . Soon afterwards , she is realized the inn is the base of a band of criminals who are planning shipwrecks on the rocky coast for rob it .

This nice picture is a costume drama with action , suspense , romance , adventures , tension and formidable interpretation . It's a romantic story with exciting images narrated in amazing agility and swiftly ; thus it happens : murders , storms , shipwrecks , escapes , pursuits... The film along with ¨Walzes from Vienna¨(1934) and ¨Under Capricorn¨(1949) is one from trio Hitchcock's epoch tales . And it is the first of Daphne of Maurier adaptations along with ¨Rebeca¨ and ¨The birds¨. Although Alfred Hitchcock was unhappy with the script and Charles Laughton's performance , still he experimented on this film just as he did on his previous film , The lady vanishes (1938) . Hitchcock had problems with Charles Laugthon (1899-1962), both of whom had a difficult and obstinate character and they bore remarkable physical resemblance . Besides , the sadomasochist relation between Laughton and Mauren O'Hara reflects the tempestuous relationship Hitchcock had with this actress .

Evocative photography in black and white . Hitchcock and cinematographer Harry Stradling Jr. gave the film a darker look in order to make it very atmospheric . Stradling later worked with Hitchcock in Mr and Mrs Smith (1941) and Suspicion (1941) . This movie has background music only at the beginning and the end This is the last film from Hitchcock's British career . Soon afterward this movie , Hitchcock was contracted by the great producer David O.Selznick (Gone with the wind) for the direction of the hit smash ¨Rebeca¨. He started the plenty successful American career and no returning to England until ¨Frenzy¨ (1972).

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 coachman of her stagecoach refuses to stop in the infamous 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 and 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 eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Estalagem Maldita" ("The Damned Inn")

Nota: On 15 October 2024, I saw this movie again.

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, 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 was pleasantly surprised when I first saw Hitchcock's 'Jamaica Inn'. I had heard so many bad things about the movie and the fact that it seemed to have been made on the cheap and in a hurry so Hitch could do a runner to Hollywood. I really liked this movie - I thought the lovely Maureen O'Hara made a very spirited Mary Yellan and Leslie Banks was great as her hulking bully of an Uncle, Joss. While not as technically inventive as some of Hitchcock's other work before or since, I felt it was made with care and presented a realistic, gloomy atmosphere of doom with its endless night time scenes and constant soundtrack of howling winds and crashing waves.

And then I read the book...

Du Maurier's novel was so different as to bear no relation whatever to Hitchcock's film. The book was intense, gritty, dark and very moody. Mary Yellan was written almost as she is presented on screen with her sharp, Irish wits but Joss is a much more tortured, boorish animal than he is in the film. Also, the character played by Charles Laughton is absent in the book - or at least Laughton's incarnation is. The squire in the book is one of the good guys and features very little. The film of 'Jamaica Inn' may as well be called the Charles Laughton Show so as to give the actor every chance to overact.

See the film if you are a Hitchcock fan and enjoy it for what it is but if you've read and enjoyed the book, my advice would be to steer clear!