Jamaica Inn (1939)

Film: Jamaica Inn (1939)

Stars: Charles Laughton, Leslie Banks, Maureen O'Hara, Robert Newton, Marie Ney

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2021 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different one Alfred Hitchcock's Leading Ladies.  This month, our focus is on Maureen O'Hara-click here to learn more about Ms. O'Hara (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

We are going to start our conversation about Maureen O'Hara with the film that elevated her to leading lady status, if not entirely star status; not by coincidence, it is also the film that connects us to our 2021 theme of Alfred Hitchcock movies, as Jamaica Inn was the sole film that O'Hara made with the Master of Suspense.  At this point she was under contract to Charles Laughton, and his fledgling production company, and so was cast as his leading lady (the two were good friends, and O'Hara considered him a father-figure throughout her career).  The film has an interesting reputation as perhaps the worst movie Alfred Hitchcock ever made, and O'Hara's onscreen persona (stubborn, redheaded, fiery) is the antithesis of what we'd consider the "Hitchcock prototype" for his leading ladies, so I was definitely more intrigued than usual to understand what might be happening in this movie.

(Spoilers Ahead) I will try to ground you a little bit in the plot here, but I'll be real-the story is kind of a mess, and as a result it's hard to summarize.  Joss (Banks) is a boorish innkeeper who lives with his meek wife Patience (Ney).  Their beautiful niece Mary (O'Hara) has come unexpectedly to live with them at Jamaica Inn, a place of ill-repute that houses thieves who purposefully ground ships against the shores of a nearby port, plunder what's onboard & kill the seamen (basically, pirates).  What is not known is that respectable justice of the peace Pengalian (Laughton) is actually behind their criminal enterprise, and has become somewhat obsessed with young Mary.  As the film unfolds, Mary & a new gang member Jem (Newton) are involved with accusations of betrayal from the gang, and accidentally out themselves to Pengalian, who captures them.  He then kills Joss & Patience after they escape, kidnapping Mary & wanting to take her as his captive (it's 1939, but you get the impression he wants her to be his sex slave), but after she escapes & he's cornered, he jumps off of the mast of the ship they are on, to his death.

Jamaica Inn isn't your typical Hitchcock film, despite coming a year after his first real masterpiece, The Lady Vanishes.  Hitch rarely worked in period pieces, and part of that's easy to see here, as his most indulgent ticks are on full-display here (the older man obsessed with a beautiful woman, the cheeky asides & indulgent humor, the many misdirects) don't work in a different era.  Jamaica Inn's plot is tonally imbalanced, particularly when it comes to Laughton's dastardly villain-is he a joke?  Is he a rake?  An evil genius, or just mad?  You can't really tell, and the film falls apart in a way that I've never seen from a Hitchcock film.  On top of that, well...it's super boring, and movies with Charles Laughton might be off-the-rails, but they are never boring.

O'Hara in her first really significant role doesn't make much impression.  She's beautiful, almost shockingly so (you honestly gasp the first time you see her onscreen), but her character is overwhelmed by a meandering plot & Laughton chewing the scenery.  Laughton & O'Hara would be good friends, and make a number of films together, but based on this film alone you have to wonder why-it wasn't like this was a hit (it was ravaged by critics at the time & as I said above is generally considered to be Hitchcock's worst movie,  which after watching it it's definitely the worst I've seen), but perhaps the next film they did together (which we'll look at next week) will give us more clues as to their chemistry.