Jamaica Inn Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Jamaica Inn Blu-ray Movie Review

It’s maybe just a little ironic that Jamaica Inn, the last film that iconic director Alfred Hitchcock made in his native England before departing for supposedly greener pastures in the United States, received its Blu-ray release in the United States well over a year ago, in this edition from Cohen Film Collection (Cohen co-sponsored the elaborate restoration the film underwent, along with the British Film Institute). However, the Brits (as is their wont) kept calm and carried on, and now Arrow Academy in the UK is releasing the film as well.

Jamaica Inn Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jamaica Inn is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. For the record, Arrow provided a check disc for this review which I assume is identical to the final retail version. Arrow has not yet provided a PDF of any booklet included with this release, and so I can't quote any verbiage about the transfer, though since this is obviously sourced off the same Cohen/BFI restoration that was used for the American release, I refer you to our original Jamaica Inn Blu-ray review, which includes a lengthy quote from the Cohen booklet about the restoration efforts. I'll also refer you to my original review for general thoughts on the look of this release, with an added comment that the only major difference I am noticing is that the Arrow release is a tad brighter than the Cohen was. That said, there's no significant difference in (relative) contrast or detail levels that stood out to me in a comparison viewing. I've tried to come at least close to recreating the first five screenshots from my review of the U.S. version so that those interested can do a side by side comparison.

Update: Arrow UK kindly provided a PDF of the booklet included with this release, which contains the following verbiage on the transfer:

The restoration of Jamaica Inn was carried out by Cohen Film Collection at RR Media and supervised by Finishing Post Productions. The 4K restoration utilized a nitrate 35mm original negative held at the BFI National Film Archive.

Jamaica Inn Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While the Cohen release offered an LPCM 2.0 Mono track, this Arrow Academy release offers a "true" (i.e. one channel) LPCM Mono track which is for all intents and purposes the same as that described in my original Jamaica Inn Blu-ray review. I will say that the brief bookending music cues sounded just a little more focused to my ears in this accounting, but dialogue and effects are very similar, if not outright identical.

Jamaica Inn Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release offers the same supplements as the Cohen release (with just slightly different timings).

• Feature Length Audio Commentary offers historian Jeremy Arnold with a really interesting assortment of background information on the shoot, the actors, and the relationship between Laughton and Hitchcock.


• Shipwrecked in a Studio: A Video Essay with Donald Spoto (1080p; 13:05) offers Hitchcock biographer Spoto with more interesting background on the film, including the relationship between Laughton and O'Hara.


• 2014 Re-Release Trailer (1080p; 1:27)

Jamaica Inn Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As I mentioned in our original Jamaica Inn Blu-ray review, this is one of those Hitchcock films that often doesn't really feel like a Hitchcock film and which has therefore probably been relegated to second (or third) string status. O'Hara is lovely, and some of the supporting players are a lot of fun, but Laughton is a bit (maybe more than just a bit) of a ham in this picture, and one gets the feeling he was out to prove he, not Hitchcock, was the "power" in the film (he also co-produced). Still, there are some exciting sequences, and this restoration leaves the film looking largely fantastic and sounding very good. For Hitchcock completists if for no one else, Jamaica Inn comes Recommended.