Musashi94 Aside from an auction scene that's rather ahead of its time, there isn't really anything worthwhile here. Rather typically of an early sound film, it's so stilled, talky and set-bound that it's hard to keep interest for more than a few minutes at a time. Even though sound film had been commercially widespread for almost three years at the time, The Skin Game still suffers from garbled dialogue and conspicuous periods of silence. The sets are pretty bad, especially the ones used for the backseat of a car and really breaks the sense of immersion.The nouveau rich versus the old aristocracy plot isn't all that interesting either, and plays out like a standard class conflict melodrama for the most part. Edmund Gwenn, a common sight in early Hitchcock films, gives the only really believable performance but even he struggles to leave much of an impression thanks to the numerous technical issues. The rest of the cast ranges from bad to mediocre. I'd only recommend this film for Hitchcock fanatics, there just isn't enough here that's worthwhile for anyone else to spend their time on.

bbmtwist THE SKIN GAME is a superbly written Galsworthy play, pitting the landed gentry against the unscrupulous and upcoming entrepreneur, both fighting over a piece of land and its future.Except for a handful of clever camera and editing tricks (Hitchcock's trademark thus far in his career), this is for the most part a very crudely photographed and amateurishly edited sound film. There is no tension and interest in the proceedings is purely academic, when the audience should be gripped from beginning to end.Acting honors go to stage veteran Helen Haye as the matriarch, Amy Hillcrist, and Edmund Gwenn, as Hornblower, the grasping factory owner. Watching them lock horns is like watching Clinton and Trump fighting for their own highly diverse ways of life.Jill Esmond is of interest mainly due to her being Olivier's first wife (before Vivien Leigh) and rarely seen by USA audiences. Her performance is a bit mannered and she hasn't much to do as the ingénue. (Oddly enough Leigh was a bit player, visible in one scene, in Hitch's next film, RICH AND STRANGE.)The clever bits: contrasting the two young heirs with back to back shots depicting their arrivals home, she on horseback down an avenue of trees, he in a motor car towards a modern home; a montage of sound and close-ups, using overlapping dialogue and dog barking; the attempted foreclosure being sound alone, as we stand outside the cottage; pullback from the land in question as it becomes a photograph (a technique Hitch used previously in CHAMPAGNE), the boring auction details being read so softly as to be inaudible; the continuous movement of the camera during the auction as a point of view uninterrupted by cuts; the accusing face repeatedly zooming forward from the crowd.My print ran 1:18:35, while IMDb variously times it at 78 and 85 minutes.To sum up, an excellent play, for the most part flatly presented with a few cinematic tricks. Hardly top drawer film making, but for the most part enjoyable.

Syl Sir Alfred Hitchcock's early works in his screen adaptation of a play entitled "Skin Game." It is easy to see why this film is forgettable. First, there are too many characters in the film. The script is uneven at times. They have great cast members like Jill Esmond and Edmund Gwynn there. Many of the cast members here are known for their theatrical backgrounds. The film is about aristocracy, business, and the changing guard in England. The film's complicated plot involves blackmail and bait and switch scheme. This film never really develops in the first viewing. I give kudos for Hitchcock about a woman who uses her female prowess to help unhappy husbands get a divorce. In the thirties, women's sexual behavior remained taboo in films.

kidboots John Galsworthy was one of the most popular British novelists of the early twentieth century - his main claim to fame was "The Forsyth Saga" a long series of books following the fortunes of an extended family, principally the older son Soames and his obsession with wealth and property. He also wrote plays - most popular was "The Skin Game".The plot dealt with two families of differing social types in rural England just after the the First World War. The Hillcrists have lived in the same manor house for generations. They are "old money" and the shambling Squire can be seen as a representative of the type of aristocracy who actually caused the Great War. The Hornblowers, on the other hand, are "nouveau riche" and the single minded father (stunningly played by Edmund Gwenn), much to the Squire's disgust has just evicted family retainers, the Jackman's, and plans to surround the Hillcrist estate with factories. Even though Hornblower doesn't have "ancestors" he believes the future belongs to his kind and that the Hillcrists are an anachronism and obstruction to prosperity.To me there is not much attempt to bring the play out from it's stage origins and the only time Hitchcock puts his stamp on it was during the auction scene (but that was also a highlight of the stage play as well). The camera catches the excitement and frenzy of a bidding war during the auction of "The Sentry" - a residential parklike acreage that Hillcrist wants to preserve as the last bit of open land. Hornblower is eventually the winner but due to the shenanigans of Hillcrist, is forced to pay twice it's value and he is furious. The Hillcrists are also angry but plan to get even after hearing of the dark past of Chloe, who is married to Charles, Hornblower's son. Jill Hillcrist (Jill Edmonds) stands in the middle, drawn to Rolf (Frank Lawton) but hating what the family stands for.Chloe was once a professional co-respondent employed by a London agency and Mrs. Hillcrist and their unscrupulous agent Dawker plan to use it to the family's advantage, even though the Squire is above such muckraking. The play was similar to Galsworthy's "The Forsyth Saga" in that it was about social change and the breakdown of conventional class structure. Written at the beginning of the 1920s, an era which saw the rise of the middle class - in the film represented by the ambitious Dawker. Among the players - Jill Esmond, at the time married to Laurence Olivier, went to Hollywood with him but never seemed to photograph as youthful or engagingly as in this movie. Frank Lawton also went to Hollywood where he starred in "David Copperfield". Edmund Gwenn had a massive career in Hollywood but he quickly found a niche in "kindly old gentlemen" roles and never had the variety he did in his British movies. John Longden was in a few early Hitchcocks, went to Australia for a few years and appeared in the controversial "The Silence of Dean Maitland" (1934).