Magnificent Bastard: Francis Davey, the vicar of Altarnun, is a seemingly friendly albino man who is the true leader of Joss Merlyn's gang of wreckers. Having sought enlightenment in Christianity, Davey abandoned it for his own form of ancient paganism, secretly masterminding the gang's wrecking of ships and murders of their crew while befriending Mary in order to both manipulate her and keep his identity secret before murdering Joss and his wife Patience. Intending to flee with his wealth, Davey attempts to push Mary to join him in his religion out of his respect for her.
The 1939 film:
Complete Monster: Sir Humphrey Pengallan, local squire and justice of the peace of the storm-swept Cornish coast, uses his well-off status to hide his identity as the mastermind behind a group of local wreckers. Pengallan has the ostensible leader of the wreckers, Joss Merlyn, in his pocket, tipping off the gang to ships coming up to the coast loaded with valuable cargo so the wreckers can sink them and massacre any survivors. Pengallan remorselessly gloats he's drowned hundreds of sailors all for the sake of living like a king, only ever hesitating when the authorities are close to finding him out. When Joss's girlfriend Patience tries to renege on the gang, Pengallan murders her, kidnaps her niece Mary for a trophy wife, then attempts to sail out with his ill-gotten gains and force Mary to play the part of "dutiful possession" for the rest of the kingly life he's murdered his way into.
Critical Dissonance: Largely panned in 1939, but it was a big hit, mostly because it came out at the height of Charles Laughton's popularity.
Narm: Even by the lofty Large Ham standards of Charles Laughton, Sir Humphrey Pengallan is so over-the-top that he's hard to take seriously as a Big Bad, which robs the film of a lot of its potential drama. Still, his performance is entertaining enough to provide some Narm Charm.
Special Effects Failure: The wide shots of the ships are obviously models, but the waves are actually quite convincing.
The 1983 miniseries:
Complete Monster: Joss Merlyn, stripped of any redeeming qualities, is an alcoholic brute of a smuggler and pirate who abuses his wife Patience and murders one of his mistresses for fear of being identified. Joss lures ships to dash themselves on the rocks near Jamaica Inn where he and his crew murder the survivors and steal anything of valuable, Joss gleefully luring one ship personally to his "pretty rocks" before killing the crew.
