Jamaica Inn (1939)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Sidney Gilliat (screenplay) &
Joan Harrison (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

13 October 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime

Plot:

In Cornwall, around 1800, a young woman discovers that she's living near a gang of criminals who arrange shipwrecks for profit.

Plot Keywords:

Inn | Ship | Orphan | Shipwreck | Stagecoach

Cast

Charles Laughton	...	Sir Humphrey Pengallan
Horace Hodges	...	His Butler
Hay Petrie	...	His Groom
Frederick Piper	...	His Agent
Herbert Lomas	...	His Tenant
Clare Greet	...	His Tenant
William Devlin	...	His Tenant
Jeanne De Casalis	...	His Friend (as Jeanne de Casalis)
Mabel Terry-Lewis	...	His Friend (as Mabel Terry Lewis)
A. Bromley Davenport	...	His Friend (as Bromley Davenport)
George Curzon	...	His Friend
Basil Radford	...	His Friend
Leslie Banks	...	Joss Merlyn
Marie Ney	...	Patience - His Wife
Maureen O'Hara	...	Mary - His Niece
Emlyn Williams	...	Harry the Pedlar - Sir Humphrey's Gang
Wylie Watson	...	Salvation Watkins - Sir Humphrey's Gang
Morland Graham	...	Sea Lawyer Sydney - Sir Humphrey's Gang
Edwin Greenwood	...	Dandy - Sir Humphrey's Gang
Mervyn Johns	...	Thomas - Sir Humphrey's Gang
Stephen Haggard	...	The Boy - Sir Humphrey's Gang
Robert Newton	...	Jem Trehearne - Sir Humphrey's Gang
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adair	...	Captain Murray (uncredited)
Marie Ault	...	Coach Passenger (uncredited)
O.B. Clarence	...	Coach Passenger (uncredited)
William Fazan	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Archie Harradine	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Mary Jerrold	...	Miss Black (uncredited)
Harry Lane	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Sam Lee	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Alan Lewis	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
John Longden	...	Captain Johnson (uncredited)
Aubrey Mather	...	Coachman (uncredited)
Philip Ray	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
A. George Smith	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)

Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock

Writing credits
Sidney Gilliat		(screenplay) &
Joan Harrison		(screenplay)
Sidney Gilliat		(dialogue)
Alma Reville		(continuity)
J.B. Priestley		(additional dialogue)
Daphne Du Maurier		novel (uncredited)

Produced by
Erich Pommer	....	producer
Charles Laughton	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Eric Fenby		(music)

Cinematography by
Bernard Knowles		(photography: in collaboration with)
Harry Stradling Sr.		(as Harry Stradling)

Film Editing by
Robert Hamer

Set Decoration by
Thomas N. Morahan		(settings) (as Tom Morahan)

Costume Design by
Molly McArthur		(costumes)

Makeup Department
Ern Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Hugh Perceval	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roy Goddard	....	assistant director
Edward Joseph	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
John Hoesli	....	assistant art director (uncredited)
Albert Whitlock	....	scenic artist (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jack Rogerson	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Harry Watt	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
W. Percy Day	....	matte painter (uncredited)

Stunts
Bob Simmons	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Gus Drisse	....	camera operator

Music Department
Frederick Lewis	....	musical director (as Frederic Lewis)

Production Companies

• Mayflower Pictures Corporation (present) (as Mayflower Pictures)

Distributors

• Associated British Film Distributors (ABFD) (1939) (UK) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1939) (USA) (theatrical)
• Scalera Film S.p.a. (1940) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Madacy Entertainment (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Kino Video (1997) (USA) (VHS) (????)
• Laserlight Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Laserlight Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Delta Expedition (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2001) (Germany) (VHS)
• Rhino Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Kino Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Laserlight Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Delta Expedition (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Pictures Video (2006) (France) (DVD)
• St. Clair Vision (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount-Films (1939) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Castle Communications (????) (Finland) (VHS)
• Future Film (2006) (Finland) (DVD) (8-disc Hitchcock Classic Collection)
• Eos-Film Richter & Co. (1952) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Kino Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• LS Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"La posada maldita" - Argentina, Mexico (imdb display title)
"La taverne de la Jamaïque" - Belgium (French title), France
"Riff-Piraten" - Austria, West Germany
"A Pousada da Jamaica" - Portugal
"Die Taverne von Jamaika" - West Germany
"I taverna tis Jamaica" - Greece (reissue title)
"I taverna tis Zamaikas" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Jamaica Inn rantarosvot" - Finland
"Jamaica Innin rannikkorosvot" - Finland
"Jamaica fogadó" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Jamaica-kroen" - Denmark
"L'auberge de la Jamaïque" - France
"La posada de Jamaica" - Spain
"La taverna della Giamaica" - Italy
"Poonduck Jamaica" - Israel (Hebrew title)
"Värdshuset Jamaica Inn" - Sweden
"Vräkplundrarna på Jamaica Inn" - Finland (Swedish title)

Runtime:

108 min | USA:98 min | Canada:90 min (Ontario)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 (1995) | Finland:K-16 (1939) | Australia:G (TV rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:A (original rating) | France:U | USA:Approved (PCA #6247) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Germany:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Mayflower Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Was reportedly one of Alfred Hitchcock's most unhappy directing jobs. He felt caught between Charles Laughton and Laughton's business partners. Later, he said that he did not so much direct the film as referee it.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Mary has been tied up and the cloak has been placed on her, the amount of her face that is visible under the hood varies between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Captain:Can you make out the beacon light?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Blue Murder: Tooth and Claw (#5.3)" (2009)

Rich cinematic flourishes and a realistic atmosphere on screen

Even though it is one of the weakest works of Hitchcock, the film surprisingly provides rich cinematic flourishes. For a 1939 film, it captures on screen the atmosphere and dark mood of the novel quite vividly—the stormy scene, the cave, and the inn (with the name board flapping in the wind). It is another matter that the albino parson of the book is transformed into a squire (with an unbelievable eyebrow make-up) in the film who commands his steed to be brought inside his dining hall. Daphne du Maurier's novel was adapted for cinema by the trio of Sidney Gilliat, Joan Harrison and J.B. Priestley, and reportedly the author did not approve of the end-product.

As in many Hitchcock films there is a recurring reference to marriage. Here a good woman remains faithful to her boorish and cruel husband through thick and thin.

As in most Hitchcock films there is a lot of sexual innuendo without any sex on screen, especially when Pengallen (Charles Laughton) makes the young girl (Maureen O'Hara) his prisoner. (The only film where Hitchcock showed sex on screen was "Frenzy.") And as in many a Hitchcock film, a bad guy turns out to be a good guy. This is one of the rare films of Hitchcock where the director does not make a cameo appearance.

The best cinematic flourishes were—-the focus on the thin hands of the 17 year old who cannot be shackled by the soldiers as the handcuffs are too big, the opening "prayer" that serves as a grim introduction and finally the last scene of the film: Chadwick, the squire's butler, who thinks he can hear his dead master calling him for help in death.