jamaica inn be an eighteenth century coach inn on bodmin moor and cornwall . it be say to be one of the few old cornish inn not to have be use by smuggler while it be about a far from the sea a it be possible to be in cornwall and and it exposed position on open moorland by a main road would have make it easy to detect any suspicious movement of good . nevertheless and it atmospheric setting appeal to the novelist daphne du maurier and who use it a the backdrop to her novel jamaica inn and which deal with the activity of smuggler and wrecker in early nineteenth century cornwall . period costume drama be not really alfred hitchcock forte and so he be not the most obvious choice to direct the film version of du maurier novel . ( accord to some account he only do so in order to secure the right to another of her novel and rebecca and make into one of his most famous film the following year . a third hitchcock film and the bird and be also base on her work ) . the film be set in the 1820s . jamaica inn and which in the film be closer to the sea and closer to truro and far from bodmin than it be in reality and be the headquarters of a gang of wrecker and lead by the innkeeper joss . the wrecker conceal coastal beacon in order to cause ship to run aground . then they loot the wreck and kill the survive sailor . the main character be mary yellan and the orphan niece of joss wife patience and who come to stay with her aunt and uncle after the death of her parent and but who flee from the inn after discover her uncle criminal activity . in the original novel mary be herself cornish and but here she be make irish and presumably to accommodate maureen ohara accent . another change to du maurier plot concern the main villain while in the book he be a parson and but in the film he become the local squire and sir humphrey pengallan and who be in league with the gang . he use his power a a magistrate to offer them legal protection in exchange for a share of their loot and which he need in order to fund his lavish lifestyle . this change be make in order to comply with the american production code and which forbid unsympathetic portrayal of clergyman . even in the thirty america be the main export market for british film and which mean that the hay office could exercise it influence on both side of the atlantic . pengallan be play by that old ham charles laughton and who also act a co producer and insist on rewrite the script to give his character great prominence . most of the blame for the failure of the film must be lay at his door a it be he and rather than hitchcock and who have the final say on these matter . laughton be often prone to overact and and his performance in jamaica inn be one of his hammiest . the end and rewrite to give him a dramatic death scene and be particularly melodramatic and implausible . laughton be also responsible for the casting of ohara and even though hitchcock have not want to use her after a poor screen test . her performance in the film itself be a wooden one while laughton overacts badly and but she underact equally badly . ( surprisingly and the film be good for ohara career . laughton be and unaccountably and so take with her performance that he invite her to play esmeralda opposite his quasimodo in the hunchback of notre dame ) . the critic michael medved included jamaica inn in his fifty bad movie of all time . i suspect that medved be be deliberately provocative while he must have realise that he could not fill his book with fifty example of z movie like santa claus conquer the martian and that nominate a minor work of a major director for a golden turkey would be a good way of generate controversy . nevertheless and the film be one of hitchcock weak and lack not only the drama and suspense we have come to associate with hitchcock but also the touch of humour he often use to lighten the mood . ( any humour in the film be inadvertent ) . it be hardly surprising that du maurier dislike the adaptation and that hitchcock leave britain for hollywood as soon a possible after complete it . today it be of interest to hitchcock completists only . 4/10 .