# A High Wind in Jamaica (film)

A High Wind in Jamaica is a 1965 DeLuxe Color adventure film, based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Richard Hughes, and directed by Alexander Mackendrick for the 20th Century-Fox studio. It stars Anthony Quinn and James Coburn as the pirates who capture five children. Other cast members include Deborah Baxter, Nigel Davenport, Isabel Dean, Lila Kedrova, Kenneth J. Warren, and Gert Frobe. One of the child actors is the author Martin Amis.

## Plot

A hurricane hits Jamaica in the mid-19th century. (Nigel Davenport and Isabel Dean) Thornton feel it is time to send their five children to England for a more civilised upbringing and education.
During the voyage, pirates board the ship; the children accidentally leave on the pirate ship. The pirate captain, Chavez (Anthony Quinn) and first mate Zac (James Coburn), not wanting to risk a kidnapping charge, decide to sail to Tampico and leave the children with Rosa (Lila Kedrova), a good-hearted brothel madam who will keep them safe.
Rosa warns the pirates that the law is after them. Since they are innocent of the crimes they are accused them of — namely, murdering the children — Chavez and Zac are unconcerned. However, when one child, John (Martin Amis), slips from a brothel window and dies, Rosa, not wanting any involvement in a potential murder case, insists Chavez take the remaining children away. The crew feel that the children are unlucky and demand abandoning them on the next island. When Emily (Deborah Baxter) falls ill, Chavez refuses to attack a passing Dutch vessel, wanting it to take Emily and the children to safety. His men mutiny, lock up Chavez, seize the Dutch boat, and capture its captain (Gert Fröbe).
A Royal Navy cutter appears and the panicked pirates re-board their own ship. Emily is awakened by the bound Dutch captain, who storms frantically into her room holding a knife and, speaking only Dutch, is imploring her to cut his bindings. Terrified and dazed by the sleeping draughts Chavez gave to soothe her pain, she mistakes his intentions and stabs him to death. The shocked Chavez intervenes too late and is left with blood on his hands. He and his former crew are taken prisoner and shipped to Britain for trial. Under questioning in court, the barrister twists Emily's testimony to imply she blames Chavez for killing the Dutch captain. The pirates are sentenced to hang for the death, instead of being imprisoned for piracy.
In the final scene children play innocently by a lake. Emily stands amongst them - staring at a model ship.

## Cast

* Anthony Quinn as Chavez
* James Coburn as Zac
* Deborah Baxter as Emily
* Dennis Price as Mathias
* Lila Kedrova as Rosa
* Nigel Davenport as Frederick Thornton
* Isabel Dean as Alice Thornton
* Roberta Tovey as Rachel Thornton
* Martin Amis as John Thornton
* Kenneth J. Warren as Capt. Marpole
* Ben Carruthers as Alberto (as Benito Carruthers)
* Gert Fröbe as Dutch Captain (as Gert Frobe)
* Brian Phelan as Curtis
* Trader Faulkner as Pirate
* Charles Laurence as Tallyman
* Charles Hyatt as Pirate
* Philip Madoc as Guardia Civil
* Dan Jackson as Pirate
* Viviane Ventura as Margaret Fernandez
The title song was produced and written by Larry Adler and sung by Mike LeRoy.

## Production

The film was made by 20th Century Fox, who subsequently made Coburn a star via Our Man Flint.

## Reception

Reviews were mixed to positive, with some critics expressing disappointment that aspects of the novel were lost in the transition to film. A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote, "Although hands involved are either experienced or willing, a good deal of the nuance, philosophy and insight into the human condition for which the book was lauded, appear to be missing on the screen. This is simply a voyage full of sound and fury but one without much conviction or meaning." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it "an absorbing, unusual and fit-for-the-family film, though it will not satisfy those who treasure the Richard Hughes novel ... By shifting the focus onto the pirate-captain, the film all but buries the role the children play." Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "it is a good movie, an entertaining movie, but it lacks the dirk-sharp bite of the author's prose, and the antic madness that made it such an astonishing delight now cuts through only fitfully." Variety was generally positive, noting a "warm screenplay" and "often spectacular treatment" given to the color photography. A review in The Monthly Film Bulletin stated that although Hughes' novel had "undergone a softening process," it was "surprising how well the film manages to suggest the feeling that the children are living in a world of their own as they play happily throughout their ordeal ... Equally good is the atmosphere of superstitious terror among the native crew, fed by the children's innocent teasing."

### Box office

According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $6,300,000 in rentals to break even and made $2,260,000, meaning it made a loss.