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Mar 31, 2018biffblack rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Well worth seeing for lovers of atmosphere and appreciators of the young Maureen O'Hara's exquisitely creamy comeliness. Not Hitchcock's best, yet one of his gamiest. Jamaica Inn is a dirty movie in the most visceral sense of the term. Amateur pirates have their way with treasure-laden shipwrecks, then spend a lot of time being unwashed & skanky at a scary tavern whilst waiting for their next kill. Leslie Banks, the clean-scrubbed hero of the Man Who Knew Too Much, figures here as one of the filthiest, nastiest, most amoral creatures alive; he's scarcely recognizable as the virtuous father from the earlier film. The sexual tension betwixt Banks and O'Hara -- whose characters are related by marriage -- is absolutely eye-popping! Marie Ney, as Patience, gives a quietly stunning turn as a victimized woman who will endure ANYTHING for her man -- no matter what a villainous blackguard he is. Charles Laughton delightfully hams it up as the provincial Cornish coast politico, AND in case there are any doubts as to where Hitchcock's sympathies lie/lay, look at who gets the final frames of this film all to himself. !!