Jamaica Inn
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year Released: 1939
Rating: 1.0
Very, very minor Hitchcock drama: young and innocent Maureen O'Hara stumbles upon a band of thieves and their ringleader, Charles Laughton. Dramatic impact is decidedly lessened by informing the audience early on that Laughton's a baddie, but it's not like Hitch brought his 'A' game to this - it's been claimed by some (and I'll agree) that he sleepwalked through a few productions he more or less lost interest in, and I'd include this in that pile (also in there if you ask me: Torn Curtain, Topaz, The Paradine Case). Hitch aficionados will find the rough treatment of O'Hara fascinating - especially the way she's regularly mistreated, stripped and gagged - and the presence of a 'double agent' though there isn't a whole lot here to examine (there isn't even a cameo!).
