Charles Laughton

Jamaica Inn

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Charles Laughton

Hitchcock’s last movie before he decamped from Britain to the USA is a nearly great adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel Jamaica Inn, set in Cornwall where smuggler gangs lure ships onto the rocks, loot their cargos and kill their crews. The towering presence in it is Charles Laughton as local lord Sir Humphrey Pengallan, a charming psychopath who runs the notorious gang through his trusty lieutenant Joss Merlyn (Leslie Banks), landlord of the Jamaica Inn, from which the gang operates, a place so feared that coaches will not stop there. Arriving one dark and stormy night – poor orphaned Irish colleen Mary Yellan (Maureen O’Hara), looking up her aunt after the death … Read more

The Bribe

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Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner

In Casablanca “everybody comes to Rick’s”, in The Bribe it’s Pedro’s, a sweaty canteen somewhere in venal Central America, around which this messy mix of thriller, romance, exotic adventure and detective story plays out. Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner are the stars, but Charles Laughton is the standout, taking it upon himself – probably not for selfless reasons – to save this odd mishmash from itself with a performance that lifts everything up several rungs. The story centres on a racket dealing in hooky war surplus, which FBI agent Rigby – no first name – has been sent in to sort out. Instantly suspicious characters include alcoholic ex-pilot Tug Hintten (John Hodiak) and … Read more

The Big Clock

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Ray Milland and Charles Laughton

The IMDb description of The Big Clock succinctly tells the story of what happens – “A magazine tycoon commits a murder and pins it on an innocent man, who then tries to solve the murder himself” – while remaining silent about the massive irony at the centre of the story. The further the man advances with his investigation, the more he’s going to incriminate himself. It’s also about the fact that the entire story is seen through the eyes of the innocent man. It’s dependable Ray Milland as the “man”. George Stroud is a journalist at the top of his game, who’s made his name on a true crime magazine bringing in the villains … Read more

Mutiny on the Bounty

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Clark Gable and Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty

A movie for every day of the year – a good one 28 April The Mutiny on the Bounty, 1789 On this day in 1789, the year of revolution in France, some sailors on board the British ship HMS Bounty mutinied against their captain, William Bligh, and put him in a boat with 18 other members of his crew. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian, who had been promoted to sailing master by Bligh during the course of the ship’s ten-month journey from London to Tahiti. The ship’s mission was to take breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies, to see if they could be grown there and used to feed the … Read more