Although widely regarded as one of the best directors ever to make movies, Alfred Hitchcock made occasional duds along the way. Shortly after his first talkie, Blackmail (1929), Hitchcock went through a major lull and what he described as his "lowest ebb". For a four year period he made films that didn't interest him and didn't allow his creative juices to flow - films like Juno And The Paycock, Rich And Strange and Waltzes From Vienna. Also made around that time was The Skin Game, a talky and generally unexceptional adaptation of a John Galsworthy play made as part of Hitch's contractual obligation to British International Pictures. In later years Hitchcock always maintained that he never really wanted to make this film, that it was forced upon him by the studio, and if this is true then it goes a long way towards explaining why it is such a static, unenthusiastic offering.
Aristocratic landowner Mr Hillcrist (C.V. France) sells a row of cottages to a self-made businessman, Mr Hornblower (Edmund Gwenn). However, Hornblower deliberately goes back on an agreement by ejecting an elderly couple, the Jackmans, from their cottage even though he made a verbal promise not to do so. Hillcrist is furious when he hears of this, but his fury only increases when he learns that Hornblower wants the cottages to house a group of workers. Seems Hornblower has plans to buy a picturesque piece of countryside right outside Hillcrist's grand mansion and build factories upon it. After a dramatic auction for the said land, Hornblower emerges with the winning bid. However Mrs Hillcrist (Helen Haye) refuses to accept defeat lying down and tirelessly seeks a way of gaining the upper hand in the battle of wills between the two families. She gets just the handle she is looking for when it emerges that Hornblower's daughter-in-law, Chloe (Phyliss Konstam), has a scandalous past. Before marrying into the Hornblower clan, hard-up Chloe was allegedly paid to play the lover with several married men seeking divorces. She has never told anyone about this unsavoury secret, including her husband Charles Hornblower (John Longden). When Mrs Hillcrist threatens to publicise the truth unless Hornblower surrenders ownership of the land he has bought, she sets in motion a chain of events that lead to scandal, broken relationships and eventually suicide.
Even in a film as uncharacteristic and unremarkable as this, Hitchcock still manages a few innovative touches. The auction sequence, by far the best and most dramatically absorbing part of the film, is notable for its use of clever zip pans. The camera zips frantically from face to face as the bidding intensifies, adding drama and urgency to the scene. There are several fine performances too, particularly Gwenn as the arrogant Hornblower and Haye as the the merciless Mrs Hillcrist. These two commanding performances lift the film considerably and make bearable some of the long-winded, dialogue-heavy scenes. The Skin Game's plot, however, contains very few of the themes and features that typify most of Hitchcock's work - as one reviewer noted "the film is more Galsworthy than Hitchcock and seems very stagy". For this reason the film is not an especially worthwhile one and should perhaps only be sought out by Hitchcock completists or fans of the original play. Everyone else is likely to find The Skin Game somewhat disappointing.
Aristocratic landowner Mr Hillcrist (C.V. France) sells a row of cottages to a self-made businessman, Mr Hornblower (Edmund Gwenn). However, Hornblower deliberately goes back on an agreement by ejecting an elderly couple, the Jackmans, from their cottage even though he made a verbal promise not to do so. Hillcrist is furious when he hears of this, but his fury only increases when he learns that Hornblower wants the cottages to house a group of workers. Seems Hornblower has plans to buy a picturesque piece of countryside right outside Hillcrist's grand mansion and build factories upon it. After a dramatic auction for the said land, Hornblower emerges with the winning bid. However Mrs Hillcrist (Helen Haye) refuses to accept defeat lying down and tirelessly seeks a way of gaining the upper hand in the battle of wills between the two families. She gets just the handle she is looking for when it emerges that Hornblower's daughter-in-law, Chloe (Phyliss Konstam), has a scandalous past. Before marrying into the Hornblower clan, hard-up Chloe was allegedly paid to play the lover with several married men seeking divorces. She has never told anyone about this unsavoury secret, including her husband Charles Hornblower (John Longden). When Mrs Hillcrist threatens to publicise the truth unless Hornblower surrenders ownership of the land he has bought, she sets in motion a chain of events that lead to scandal, broken relationships and eventually suicide.
Even in a film as uncharacteristic and unremarkable as this, Hitchcock still manages a few innovative touches. The auction sequence, by far the best and most dramatically absorbing part of the film, is notable for its use of clever zip pans. The camera zips frantically from face to face as the bidding intensifies, adding drama and urgency to the scene. There are several fine performances too, particularly Gwenn as the arrogant Hornblower and Haye as the the merciless Mrs Hillcrist. These two commanding performances lift the film considerably and make bearable some of the long-winded, dialogue-heavy scenes. The Skin Game's plot, however, contains very few of the themes and features that typify most of Hitchcock's work - as one reviewer noted "the film is more Galsworthy than Hitchcock and seems very stagy". For this reason the film is not an especially worthwhile one and should perhaps only be sought out by Hitchcock completists or fans of the original play. Everyone else is likely to find The Skin Game somewhat disappointing.