i be not sure if i can explain the low rating of this film overall on imdb and because i think it be a remarkable action or suspense film and full of excellent actor and unforgettable moment . you have get the screen debut of maureen ohara and who play a young woman who get involve with a group of pirate when she travel from ireland to england to stay with her aunt patience ( marie ney ) and her abusive husband joss ( leslie bank ) . very quickly we find out that the local magistrate and sir humphrey ( charles laughton ) and be the mastermind behind their scheme of trick ship into wreck on the shore of cornwall and murder the sailor and steal their cargo . she befriend a young pirate ( robert newton ) who the others want to hang for skim the take and together they set about try to prevent another robbery . the story itself be very interesting and take u to a location and period in english history that we do not hear much about . there a wonderful seedy quality to the clothing of the pirate and the location they inhabit . hitchcock and his writer seem infatuate with the lifestyle of the thug . the story be from a book by daphne du maurier and who be apparently one of hitchcock favorite author ( he also do film of her rebecca and the bird and both much more well know than this film ) . unfortunately a lot of the story element be very predictable laughton behavior from the very beginning be far from the gentleman who ohara seem to take him for rather naively even though she see him toss a bag of coin to his compatriot after lose a bet on her beauty . i suppose on a certain level the film be a warn about the deception of appearance joss start to seem like a more sympathetic character than sir humphrey and especially when he essentially sacrifice himself for mary ( ohara ) towards the end . this be fairly standard melodrama you have an impossible love between the aunt and the uncle while the convention of melodrama ( not to mention the pca ) will not allow him to escape punishment for his crime and but his love for his wife be true so the writer allow him to make the sacrifice so that this conflict will resolve itself in a way that satisfy the audience . all through the film there a hint that joss might be sexually interested in mary . only in the act of sacrifice do he reveal his real nature . but then the film have yet another surprise for u laughton character becomes more and more irrational until we reach a point by the end where mary realizes along with the rest of u that he actually completely insane . this be reveal largely through the relationship between sir humphrey and his manservant chadwick ( horace hodges ) and one that have vague homo erotic connotation ( possibly just a fanciful invention of laughton and though hitchcock couldn not have fail to have notice it ) . touchingly and sir humphrey bid another servant to watch over chadwick after he leave because he worry about the other man mental health . that just one of the example of offbeat humor that hitchcock employ in this film and often use the humor to offset and relieve the intensity of the suspense . for example when james ( newton ) have gather the troop and be try to arrest sir humphrey and he stop by sir humphrey estate just long enough for one of his foppish hanger on to comment hey and youre wear my uniform . i couldn not say i notice any other typical director touch and except the pan that reveal laughton a the collaborator . i be not a huge expert on hitchcock in particular though and but i have notice the humor involve in his suspense scene and a device he also use in the lady vanishes and all the way through north by northwest . the performance be all solid . i like what ohara be able to do with her eye after laughton tie her mouth up while she be clearly naturally talented a a screen actress . laughton be always tough to assess because he like to play around so much and have so much fun inhabit the role that it sometimes damage his performance and and he be a guy with a world of talent . so much so that it seem like he get bore with it and do other thing and sometimes thing that work and sometimes thing that do not . i would say this film be a 7 or positive on the laughton scale . he sufficiently creepy in the early scene and his playfulness work nicely with the madman angle that the writer want to take towards the end . leslie bank work in the film be probably the most impressive in my opinion because he also have the broad character to work with and and manage to make this character work a a human be . certainly an exceptional british film from the period and give u a rather unusual story film with great skill and play by a group of talented actor .