Jamaica Inn (film) book "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time". Jamaica Inn (film) Jamaica Inn is a 1939 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name, the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted (the others were her novel "Rebecca" and short story "The Birds"). It stars Charles Laughton and features Maureen O'Hara in her first major screen role. It is the last film Hitchcock made in the United Kingdom before he moved to the United States. The film is a period piece set in Cornwall in 1819; the
Jamaica Inn (film) drives a long way past the inn in spite of her repeated demands that he stop. Instead, he drops her off near the home of the local squire and justice of the peace, Sir Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton). She meets him and requests the loan of a horse so she can go back to Jamaica Inn. Pengallan warns her not to go there. Nevertheless, Mary says she just came from Ireland, and as the orphaned niece of Joss's wife Patience (Marie Ney), she intends to live at Jamaica Inn. Unable to convince her to stay, Pengallan accompanies Mary to Jamaica