Jamaica Inn
I've written about four of her films on this blog: The Quiet Man, The Parent Trap, Buffalo Bill, and How Green Was My Valley. Her first film, though, was Jamaica Inn, directed by none other than Alfred Hitchcock.
She was born Maureen FitzSimons, and it was Hitchcock who gave her the name O'Hara, figuring the real thing was too long for a marquee. She would have only been about 18 when she made this film, starring as as poor Irish girl who must go to her aunt in Cornwall after her mother dies.
Once there, she finds her aunt at the establishment of the title. Her aunt is under the thumb of the sinister Joss. She does find help from a neighbor, the courtly Sir Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton). Little does she know that Laughton is the money behind a gang of wreckers (those that salvage merchandise from foundering ships) that Joss runs.
When the gang hangs a member suspected of embezzling, O'Hara saves him. He turns out to be an undercover policeman, and unwittingly enlists Laughton's aide in capturing the brigands. It's fun to watch Laughton pretending to be outraged that there are thieves nearby, when he is of course their secret partner.
This film was very unusual for Hitchcock, especially when consider his later American films. It's a period piece, for one. He does not make a cameo appearance, and the film is excessively dark, and by that I mean a literal lack of light. It may the deterioration of the print, but the chiaroscuro in this film is excessive, even by the standards of German expressionism.
Jamaica Inn was based on a novel by Daphne Du Maurier, as would one of his next films, Rebecca. The latter film was much better than this one, which is really of note only for O'Hara's debut and that Hitchcock did direct it, even though it's not up to his standards.
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