Seeing how this was his last UK production before heading to Hollywood for his double whammy of Hollywood classics in 1940 (Rebecca, and Foreign Correspondent), this much-maligned Hitchcock film is in dire need of restoration. This movie also predicts the Gothic-like atmosphere of Rebecca, and throws in a bit of German Expressionism similar to James Whale's The Old Dark House.
It's a very simple plot: A motley crew of pirates, based at an inn in Cornwall and "sponsored" by the local squire, cause shipwrecks off the rocky and stormy coast, kill the crew and passengers, and make off with the goods the ships are transporting. A Cornwall officer has infiltrated the group, and the movie opens with the pirates discovering the "mole" and preparing to hang him. Enter the niece of the wife of the innkeeper, who is one of the pirates, and the niece manages to figure out what's going on within the first 10 minutes of the movie.
The main locations are the inn, which resembles the spooky setting of The Old Dark House, the rocky waterfront, and the squire's luxurious manor, similar to Manderley in Rebecca. There is quite a bit of tension and suspense as the niece and the infiltrator escape the clutches of the pirates, and ultimately the squire, and try to stay ahead of their pursuit.
The band of pirates are memorable. The lead "soldier" is Harry, a psychotic wisecracking punk, complete with earrings and a bowler hat, who irritatingly whistles, even when he's knifing crews of the wrecked ships. The squire is played by Charles Laughton, and stories abound that one of the reasons Hitchcock hated this movie so much was because of Laughton and his bullying on the set. Hitchcock worked with Laughton again in The Paradine Case in 1947 so who knows. At any rate, Laughton is his typical arrogant blowhard best as the villain, not too far removed from Captain Bligh (he even has a climax on a ship's mast).
Maureen O'Hara, in her first major movie, plays the niece and the "mole" is played by Robert Newton, a Shakespearean actor who brings an element of sophistication to the gang of pirates, which probably helped the gang in their efforts to uncover the traitor in their midst.
The various DVDs available of this movie are in bad shape and the dialogue is hard to hear in spots. The original film must have degraded past the point of restoration, otherwise this movie may have gotten the recent Criterion treatment other early Hitch movies like The Lodger, The 39 Steps, and The Lady Vanishes received. Still worth a watch as Hitchcock was pretty much incapable of making a boring movie.
It's a very simple plot: A motley crew of pirates, based at an inn in Cornwall and "sponsored" by the local squire, cause shipwrecks off the rocky and stormy coast, kill the crew and passengers, and make off with the goods the ships are transporting. A Cornwall officer has infiltrated the group, and the movie opens with the pirates discovering the "mole" and preparing to hang him. Enter the niece of the wife of the innkeeper, who is one of the pirates, and the niece manages to figure out what's going on within the first 10 minutes of the movie.
The main locations are the inn, which resembles the spooky setting of The Old Dark House, the rocky waterfront, and the squire's luxurious manor, similar to Manderley in Rebecca. There is quite a bit of tension and suspense as the niece and the infiltrator escape the clutches of the pirates, and ultimately the squire, and try to stay ahead of their pursuit.
The band of pirates are memorable. The lead "soldier" is Harry, a psychotic wisecracking punk, complete with earrings and a bowler hat, who irritatingly whistles, even when he's knifing crews of the wrecked ships. The squire is played by Charles Laughton, and stories abound that one of the reasons Hitchcock hated this movie so much was because of Laughton and his bullying on the set. Hitchcock worked with Laughton again in The Paradine Case in 1947 so who knows. At any rate, Laughton is his typical arrogant blowhard best as the villain, not too far removed from Captain Bligh (he even has a climax on a ship's mast).
Maureen O'Hara, in her first major movie, plays the niece and the "mole" is played by Robert Newton, a Shakespearean actor who brings an element of sophistication to the gang of pirates, which probably helped the gang in their efforts to uncover the traitor in their midst.
The various DVDs available of this movie are in bad shape and the dialogue is hard to hear in spots. The original film must have degraded past the point of restoration, otherwise this movie may have gotten the recent Criterion treatment other early Hitch movies like The Lodger, The 39 Steps, and The Lady Vanishes received. Still worth a watch as Hitchcock was pretty much incapable of making a boring movie.