Jamaica Inn (1939)

"That place - Jamaica Inn. It's got a bad name. It's not healthy, that's why. There's queer things goes on there.", 10 July 2006

Jamaica Inn is easily the weakest Alfred Hitchcock film I've yet seen. Actually, Jamaica Inn isn't so much a Hitchcock film as it is a Charles Laughton film. Now I generally enjoy Laughton's brand of acting. In fact, I rank his performance in The Island of Lost Souls as one of the all-time best performances in a horror movie. But in Jamaica Inn, his overacting, scene-chewing performance is too much. Although there are a few scenes with Laughton I enjoy, particularly early in the movie before we discover his character's true nature, he becomes something of a joke - a giant buffoon sucking whatever atmosphere and drama the film had. His over-the-top characterization is out of place with the other elements in the film.

Hitchcock was, however, effective in creating tension and atmosphere in the scenes without Laughton. There's a particularly nice scene early on where our two heroes, played by Maureen O'Hara and Robert Newton, are trapped in a cave. Or the scene near the end where O'Hara finds herself at the mercy of the band of cutthroats whose plan she has thwarted. In these instances, Hitchcock creates real tension. But of course it's not long before Laughton enters the picture to steal the moment away from everyone - including Hitchcock.

I suppose my favorite part of Jamaica Inn was the chance to see a young Maureen O'Hara. She was as feisty at 18 as she would be throughout her career. She does a nice job given the circumstances she was working with.

5/10