Jamaica Inn is a 1939 film made 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").
The film is a period piece set in Cornwall in 1819; the real Jamaica Inn still exists, and is a pub on the edge of Bodmin Moor. The score was written by Eric Fenby.
Jamaica Inn starred Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. Critics disparaged the film and today it is considered one of Hitchcock's lesser films. However, the film still garnered a large profit (3.7 million dollars, a huge success, at the time) at the box office.
Charles Laughton was a co-producer as well, and he interfered greatly with Hitchcock's direction.
Laughton was originally cast as the uncle, but he cast himself in the role of villain, which was originally to be a hypocritical preacher, but was rewritten as a squire because unsympathetic portrayals of the clergy were forbidden...