| Subject: More trivia (if you can stand it!) |
Author:
Susan
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Date Posted: 19:20:01 11/01/06 Wed
In reply to:
Eva Danø
's message, "Jamaica Inn, a comparison between the different versions" on 12:33:12 09/12/06 Tue
I know, Sue! So many implausibilities. We could keep finding more, and I'm sure I will. Yet I don't want to give the impression that I dislike the movie--there are things I love about it and things I hate about it, so it kind of balances out. (I made an abridged version for myself that only includes the parts with Robert Newton and/or Emlyn Williams in them; I just leave it in the DVD player by default! Nothing against Charles Laughton, but I just can't stand the character of the squire, and that was the only role I ever saw him in for the longest time! I was surprised upon I finally seeing Vessel of Wrath at how much more likable he was.)
Anyway, the more I watch it (i.e., the more insomnia I have!), the more things I notice about it, and even the good parts don't stand up too well to a lot of scrutiny (guess they weren't counting on the development of home video, rewind, and freeze-frame technology back then--but then maybe that has something to do with why a lot of actors preferred to work on the stage!). One of the things that occurred to me that I like so much about it is the interior of the inn. With its lumpy, crooked walls and rough-hewn railings and parts that aren't even finished (like Mary's room), it adds a lot of atmosphere to the story. It doesn't look anything like the real Jamaica Inn inside (making it more faithful to the book in that sense), but I was just reading somewhere that the real Jamaica Inn was remodelled in recent years with a Tudor style that doesn't match its 18th-century origins. I wonder if the interiors in the movie were sets or another actual inn somewhere, and, if so, which one. (The exterior shown in the movie is *not* the real Jamaica Inn.) Also, I still can't quite seem to figure out the floor-plan of the inn; one minute I think a room is to the left of the staircase, and then it seems like it's to the right ... or maybe they're two different rooms ... Has anybody with a better spatial sense than mine figured out how the rooms are laid out?
Also, while there's some really bad dialogue in the movie, it does have its moments. One of my favorite parts is where Salvation is telling Sidney that "if you want a public hanging ... you won't have to wait long. *And* you'll get a fine view of it from the best position: Inside the rope!" (And Harry is just so deliciously nasty in that scene.)
Anyway, noticing that tattoo scene the other night got me wondering about the actor who plays Dandy (Edwin Greenwood), and I discovered that he was primarily a director and writer, at least in the movies. According to the IMDb, he directed 30 films between 1923 and 1929! He also wrote 17 screenplays between 1925 and 1937. By contrast, he only acted in 3 movies, with Jamaica Inn being his last, although it doesn't give the year of his death. He did look a rather unhealthy weight in JI, but then he played a character named "Slim Jim" in 1924, so he was apparently always unusually thin.
And one last niggling piece of trivia (it's getting so bad I'm arguing with myself now!): I realized that Trehearne isn't really a Cornish name, although it sounds like one; it's Welsh. (The two languages are closely related.)
Are you sick of my comments yet? Maybe it's time to rotate my insomnia movies, huh?
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