The movie Alfred Hitchcock admitted was “completely absurd”
British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock revolutionised cinema with his innovative approach to the medium, starting in the silent era and working until the 1970s, creating many masterpieces. Hitchcock is responsible for classics like The 39 Steps, Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho, all of which have had a significant impact on other filmmakers, with the latter even paving the way for the modern slasher genre.
Often dubbed as the ‘Master of Suspense’, Hitchcock knew how to keep his audience entertained and on the edges of their seats – it is no wonder so many of his films have endured so well decades later. The director had a mighty influence on the thriller and horror genre, and he can partly thank Daphne du Maurier, who wrote three stories that he would choose to adapt, with the first being Jamaica Inn.
Written in 1936, Hitchcock gave it cinematic treatment just three years later, with actor Charles Laughton starring. However, the Academy Award-winning actor proved to be one of the reasons Hitchcock ended up hating the finished result. Before he made the negatively-reviewed movie The Night of the Hunter (which is now considered a cult classic), Laughton seemed to believe he was untouchable.
His desire to climb the ranks of the industry and become the biggest star in cinema – despite already being rather successful – was reflected in the control he tried to exert over Hitchcock during the production of Jamaica Inn. From his portrayal of his character (which the director found unsatisfactory) to his insistence that he be given more screen time and, subsequently, a different role, Hitchcock found working with Laughton exhausting. Yet, there was not much he could do since Laughton was one of the movie’s producers.
The fact that Laughton had interfered so much out of his own vanity and selfishness is evident – the film is, without a doubt, one of Hitchcock’s weakest. A contemporary review from The New York Times expressed disappointment: “Having set his own standards, Alfred Hitchcock must be judged by them; and, by them, his Jamaica Inn is merely journeyman melodrama, good enough of its kind, but almost entirely devoid of those felicitous turns of camera phrasing, the sudden gleams of wicked humour, the diabolically casual accumulation of suspense which characterise his best pictures.”
Due to Laughton’s demands, his character was given more screen time, which, in turn, ruined part of the film that would’ve been considerably more suspenseful if he had been given a smaller part. Hitchcock once expressed his dissatisfaction with the project, stating (via A Year of Hitchcock), “Jamaica Inn was an absurd thing to undertake. It was completely absurd because, logically, the judge should have entered the scene only at the end of the adventure. He should have carefully avoided the place and made sure he was never seen in the tavern.”
Hitchcock needn’t have worried too much. Just one year later, he adapted another du Maurier book – Rebecca – which won him an Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’. However, Jamaica Inn always remained a project that Hitchcock would’ve rather forgotten.
