Customer Reviews

A High Wind in Jamaica

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ahh, after watching the widescreen of this long forgotten gem on cable, we knew that a DVD was inevitable. So this review is based on the Widescreen version shown on Fox.
This is a remarkable story of a group of children who accidentally find themselves aboard a pirate ship. This is not Disney fare - there are instances of brutality, terror, death and injustice - and an ending that is totally honest and devastating.
Beautiful locations, superb photography, gifted child actors. It goes from comedy to suspense to adventure without missing a beat. If you can overlook the awful miscasting of James Coburn, the movie is nearly perfect.
THE DVD: A very good transfer from excellent elements, given the film's age. The soundtrack is a bit muddy, but that's just the way it was back then. A bare bones release, sadly, as I'd be very interested in the history and box office performance of this very uncommon film. A magnifying glass is required to know which side has the widscreen and which has the pan-n-scan. For some nutty reason they only printed the ratio on one side - so even though you see the word WIDESCREEN, if you put it in with that side up, you'll get pan-n-scan. Put the DVD in "blank' side up to see the widescreen.

I first watched this movie when I was a young girl. I have watched this movie at least 20 times and I am now purchasing the DVD for my grandkids.
This movie does not have the Hollywood glam that can ruin a movie. I cry each time I watch this movie and I am still moved by the story line. Anthony Quinn and James Coburn are at their bests. People who do not like this movie are usually too young to remember when movies were made without special effects and the scripts had to carry the movie, this script does that very well.

It was the mid-summer of 1990-1991, here in Felix Australis. I was on the long trail from Melbourne to Adelaide, driving into the searing heat of a relentess western sun . . .

I stopped at a dusty place by the name of Horsham, the chief town in the middle of the dry, arid, and sun-scorched land of the Wimmera, in western Victoria. I went to the local modern super-market, and happened upon a small heap of discounted books. Being a reader & a book-seller by trade, I turned the stock over and, to my delight, found a hardback copy by Chatto & Windus, London, of Richard Hughes' "A High Wind In Jamaica", among other marvels . . . I had never read it in all my fifty-three years! Three cheers, I thought, for the book buyer in, what seemed to me, this most unlikely place!

Tired as I was, I read avidly into the night . . .

What a marvellous experience in imagination! What superb use of the English language! Even the heat and discomfort of the opressive summer night assisted my entry into the wonderous tropical world of the West Indies & high adventure.

Some years later, I viewed the movie on TV, staring Anthony Quinn, which I found to be an exhilarating representation of Hughes' story. However, I could not find a video anywhere and sadly, gave up the search.

How marvellous to learn that it is now available on DVD!

Full marks to the Screen-writer, the Actors, the Director & the Producer and all those involved, especially FOX! Thank you. Thank you, Thank you . . .

And thanks to Richard Hughes, that genius of English story-telling, as well as to the Editor of Chatto & Windus, way back in 1929, who had the wit to publish it!

Magic!

This is a movie that I've been waiting for to be released for years! A truly wonderful piece of cinema, one of those rare examples of a classic work of literature adapted into a marvelous film. The direction by Alexander mackendrick is near perfect; the cinematography by the master D.O.P Douglas Slocombe is masterful - vibrant yet haunting. Most of the filming is shot deck high, as though you are seeing everything through the eyes of the children. The performances are generally top notch (with a couple of exceptions) Anthony Quinn gives his career best with a performance of such depth as the greatly troubled Pirate captain. The child actors are phenominal, particularly ten year old Deborah Baxter playing Emily, such a shame she never really did anything afterwards. The ending is trully gut wrenching and dificult to watch. This is a movie that incites all the emotions. A rich tapestry of life and death that should leave the audience totally satisfied.

The transfer to DVD is impressive: The colours are vibrant and rich, and the print is imaculate and sharp, apart from the first few seconds, where there are the expected dust specks and scratches. The sound isn't too hot; but I seem to remember, it never was.

All in all, Fox have released another fine DVD. Other studios should take note and take as much care as they do. Well done 20th Century Fox!

A major influence on John Milius' The Wind and the Lion (Milius would even cast its leading child actress, Deborah Baxter, in his film), Alexander Mackendrick's film of A High Wind in Jamaica is a little too safe for too much of its running time to really capture the heart of childish darkness of the novel. It starts well with the white family praying to God and their black servants sacrificing a chicken in a voodoo ceremony as they both shelter from a fierce storm in the basement of their plantation building, setting up the conflict not just between different cultures but also the generations with the innocent and indifferent fascination children have with the things their elders find most repellent. Yet when they find themselves accidental hostages of Anthony Quinn and James Coburn's pirates, their childish games driving the superstitious crew ever closer to mutiny and the story closer to tragedy, it's somewhat undermined by the fact that these pirates are a surprisingly passive and well behaved lot. Yet when it finally does move into darker waters, it's surprisingly powerful and effective, and there's a real sense of loss to the ending. If the film occasionally threatens to go all Disney on you and isn't up to the standard of Mackendrick's best work, it does share his understanding of how children really behave with films like Mandy, and it also features a surprisingly beautiful full orchestral score by Larry Adler.

Fox's DVD is a good one, boasting a fine widescreen 2.35:1 and panned-and-scanned fullscreen transfers, trailer and trailers for The Black Swan, Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World and Pirates of Tortuga.

I recently read the novel A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes, and found the book sort of a cross between Treasure Island and Huckleberry Finn, the former because the plot concerns children in the hands of pirates; but the style is more humorous and sophisticated, reminding me a bit of Twain, though more cynical, almost like Lord of the Flies.

The first quarter of the novel covers the lives of the Thornton children in Jamaica in the mid-nineteenth cetury. Most of that is absent from the movie, which starts with a hurricane. Then the children set sail for England and are kidnapped by pirates, and suspense builds through the rest of the film, along with a good deal of humor, some cynical, and some mildly shocking events - one accident and later an even more serious crime than piracy. The children, unsupervised, appear to be turning more evil than their pirate hosts. Unusual and amusing events depicted are just surprising enough to ring true.

This film version starring Anthony Quinn and James Coburn (as the pirates) follows the novel reasonably well, but as is always the case in adaptations the viewer can't experience the depth of the narrative, and some of the characters are not even established, let alone developed. I felt I might not have followed the story had I not read the book. However, there is a line at the end of the film that helps drive the point home, when a cab driver ironically tells Mr. Thornton that he must be proud of his children.

Overall the film is unique and interesting, a good find if you're tired of the same old formulae.

This was a very pleasant surprise for me. I expected a somewhat cheap and mediocre movie based partially on the fact that I had never heard of the movie before. However, there are two good stars to anchor the film, and the young supporting cast (particularly Deborah Baxter) steals the show.

The basic gist is that a group of kids accidentally end up on a pirate ship where Anthony Quinn is the captain and James Coburn is his right hand man. While they are pirates, they are somewhat lovable, and their reaction to the kids makes them quite endearing. The kids are quite innocent and funny, and of course they create havoc aboard the ship.

Emily (played by Baxter) is wonderful as a cute little girl who kind of takes charge among the kids. She flashes back and forth between being a typical little kid who does silly stuff and being quite grown up. Ultimately, she and Quinn form the primary characters in the movie, and both characters win their way into your heart.

The ending is somewhat surprising (at least it was for me), but it is a very solid ending to top off this very good little film. Not sure why this film remains hidden from view. Very underrated

As a child I watched this movie over and over every chance I got. I was thrilled to find it available on DVD for our kids - who love Pirates, but don't need to see many of the brutal works out today.

It's one of the few books where the movie is true to the story. It's a great sea adventure, scary and funny, and quite innocent seeming until you get harpooned at the end. Spirited story, excellent acting, original characters, visual vitality, and unexpected twists on conventional expectations.

Wonderful movie. I was 11 years old when I first saw it. Perfect age for girl or boy! So glad to see it on DVD now. A long forgotten, but a gem of a family movie. I'm now buying it for my grandchildren.
Another gem of a movie that is not yet on DVD is Jackie Gleason's "Gigot". He plays a deaf mute and never says a word in the movie. Another one I want for my grandchildren!