Jamaica Inn is a 1939 British B&W adventure thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel. The film stars Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara (her first major screen role). The plot is set in 1820 on the Cornish coast. A gang of wreckers extinguish coastal beacons in stormy nights, causing ships to run aground, then murdering the survivors and looting cargo. Innkeeper of Jamaica Inn Joss Merlyn leads the gang, but some other person is the real mastermind behind the wrecking gang. One day, young woman Mary Yellan, the orphaned niece of Joss' wife, appears in Jamaica Inn. She saves Jem Trehearne, a gang member who is wrongly accused by his accomplices in stealing the loot, and the duo has now to counter the gang and the mysterious ringleader.
Hitchcock's film is the first screen adaptation of the original novel. Two mini-series were also made: the 1983 ITV version starring Jane Seymour, and the 2014 BBC version starring Jessica Brown Findlay.
Flintlock Pistols of several different models are widely used throughout the movie, seen in hands of local magistrate and squire Sir Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton), Jem Trehearne (Robert Newton), Captain Johnson (John Longden) in charge of a Dragoon squad, and a number of gang members.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingSir Humphrey takes a pistol from his table when Jem Trehearne tells him about the gang in Jamaica Inn. This is a rather compact model of civilian pattern.Error creating thumbnail: File missingAnother view of the pistol.Error creating thumbnail: File missingYour gold or your life! Sir Humphrey depicts a highwayman, pointing the pistol towards his butler Chadwick (Horace Hodges).Error creating thumbnail: File missingTrehearne loads the same pistol that Sir Humphrey gave to him. A ramrod is seen in Trehearne's hand while the paper packet of gunpowder is just put into the muzzle. The procedure of muzzleloading is shown in details: biting the paper packet, placing a small charge of gunpowder in a flash pan, closing the lid of the flash pan, placing the packet into the muzzle, and ramming. The only part of loading that is omitted is of course the placing of a ball.Error creating thumbnail: File missingSir Humphrey and Trehearne hold pistols in the scene in the inn. In this scene Trehearne's pistol switches to another model, different from the one that he was given by Sir Humphrey. This pistol has octagonal barrel, and the ramrod is placed in the forend, not in the middle of the handguard.Error creating thumbnail: File missingError creating thumbnail: File missingGang member Harry the Peddler (Emlyn Williams) fires his pistol. There are real flashes on the lock and from the muzzle.Error creating thumbnail: File missingTrehearne aims a pistol in the final scene.
In the opening scene, one of the gang members carries an anachronistic Percussion Cap Pistol. This is a military style model with a large pommel on the handle, possibly a converted flintlock gun.
In the final scene, Dragoons carry short Flintlock Muskets. As the handguards extend till the muzzle, these muskets differ from any version of famous Brown Bess, they are too long for 1808 Paget carbine, and the muzzle caps and trigger guards are different from Baker Cavalry Rifles. Nevertheless, a saddle ring bar can be seen at least on one musket.
