Jamaica Inn (film) far-removed from the darker characters and sinister inn and coastline depicted in the book. Today it is considered one of Hitchcock's worst films. Hitchcock himself was disgusted with the film even before it was finished and stated that it was a "completely absurd" idea. However, the film still garnered a large profit (US$3.7 million, a huge success at the time) at the box office. Daphne du Maurier was also not pleased with the finished production and for a while she considered withholding the film rights to "Rebecca". In 1978, film critic Michael Medved gave "Jamaica Inn" a place in his
The Birds (film) he hired Evan Hunter to adapt Daphne du Maurier's novella, "The Birds", first published in her 1952 collection "The Apple Tree". Hunter had previously written "Vicious Circle" for "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine", which he adapted for the television anthology series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". He also adapted Robert Turner's story "Appointment at Eleven" for the same television series. Hunter later suspected that he was hired because he had demonstrated he could write suspense (with the 87th Precinct novels, as Ed McBain) and because his novel "The Blackboard Jungle" had received critical acclaim. The relationship between Hunter and Hitchcock during the creation