Film 36/52: Jamaica Inn (1939)

While I absolutely love a number of Alfred Hitchcock's films (Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, North by Northwest), there are still quite a few in his filmography that I have yet to see (particularly those from the 40s and earlier). I recently saw a promo for the restoration of Jamaica Inn, a film that I had in the library as part of a DVD collection of his British films (which I knew wasn't a top of the line transfers), so I decided to jump on the Blu Ray when I found an inexpensive copy for sale. As it was a recent acquisition, this series was the perfect opportunity to screen it.

Based on a Daphne Du Maurier novel (Hitchcock would later adapt another of her novels, Rebecca, and her short story which inspired The Birds), Jamaica Inn is the story of a gang of criminals who lead ships to crash off the cost of Cornwall, and then kill the surviving crew and collect their booty. Charles Laughton's Pengallan is the justice of the peace (and the criminal mastermind behind the gang). The film features Maureen O'Hara in her first major role (my first exposure to her was seeing The Quiet Man theatrically earlier this year), as Mary, the niece of the innkeeper who leads the gang. Needless to say, she gets mixed up in the events going on at Jamaica Inn and finds her life on the line. The gang is comprised of a number of colorful characters with unique personalities, and Leslie Banks, who plays Mary's uncle, portrayed Count Zaroff opposite Fay Wray in The Most Dangerous Game.

The film has some fun model photography for 1939 (of course not on par with 1980's Raise the Titanic), and some effective shots onboard the ships shot on a soundstage. While Jamaica Inn didn't break into my top tier of Hitchcock's films, we did find it entertaining, and the transfer on the Blu Ray looks fantastic on the big screen. Glad to have made the time for it as part of our 52 Pick-Up series, and I can definitely see myself revisiting this one again in the future. 


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