Discover
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Alfred Hitchcock
Director -
Robert Hamer
Editor -
Sidney Gilliat
Screenplay -
Charles Laughton
Producer -
Harry Watt
Special Effects -
Daphne du Maurier
Novel -
Joan Harrison
Screenplay -
J. Lee Thompson
Dialogue Coach
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CinemaSerf 6/1/2024 6:36:08 PM
Charles Laughton excels as local grandee "Sir Humphrey" in this super adaptation of Daphné du Maurier's book. The bleak photography and huge great waves help generate a sense of the menace of the evil Cornish wreckers. They are led by Leslie Banks's malevolent "Joss" who is just as cruel to his wife "Patience" (Marie Ney) as he is to any survivors after his men seek to drive ships onto the rocks and make off with the contraband - murdering as they go. His niece "Mary" (Maureen O'Hara) and under-cover customs man "Trehearne" (Robert Newton) discover the evil antics and complicities of both "Joss", his puppet-master and his accomplices and the film now tells the tale of their own death-defying actions trying to bring all to justice. Alfred Hitchcock has much to work with here, the photography is effective and the star is exactly that.
Maureen O'Hara
Mary YellanCharles Laughton
Sir Humphrey PengallanBasil Radford
Lord GeorgeHay Petrie
Sir Humphrey's Groom SamLeslie Banks
Joss MerlynFrederick Piper
DavisAubrey Mather
Coachman (uncredited)John Longden
Captain Johnson (uncredited)