Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Edmund Gwenn, Jill Esmond, John Longden, C.V. France, Helen Haye, Phyllis
Konstam, Frank Lawton, Herbert Ross, Dora Gregory, Edward Chapman
Hitchcock: The Beginning is a new
11-disc bluray boxset from Studiocanal featuring 10 of Alfred Hitchcock's early films and a new documentary, Becoming Hitchcock, which explores the legacy of Hitchcock's first sound film,
1929's Blackmail.
In the 10th part of our 11-part review of the boxset, we look at The Skin Game.
Each disc of Studiocanal's Hitchcock: The Beginning boxset features an
audio extract of Hitchcock's famous sit down with Francois Truffaut. Their
discussion (or lack thereof) of 1931's The Skin Game runs
for less than a minute; Truffaut hadn't seen the film and Hitchcock had no
interest in discussing it. Hitchcock likely felt it a waste of his time, a
job forced upon him by his employers at British International Pictures,
but in spite of any lack of interest he may have had in the project, it's
a gripping and thought-provoking piece of drama.
Adapted by Hitchcock and Alma Reville from the 1920 play by
John Galsworthy, The Skin Game is a classic tale of
the clash of values between settled Old Money and social-climbing New
Money. It boasts the sort of plotline that might be dragged out over
months of a TV soap opera, but compressed to 82 minutes it makes for a
lively piece.
The aristocratic Hillcrists have occupied their corner of England without
disruption for centuries until the arrival of Hornblower (Edmund Gwenn), a self-made working class entrepreneur who has risen above his station
and is in the process of buying up the land in the area to build
factories. When the Hillcrists receive a visit from a local couple whose
cottage is set to be bought out from under them by Hornblower, the
Hillcrists aren't concerned so much with the plight of these people but
with the horror of having their scenic view spoiled by smoking chimneys.
They decide to compete with Hornblower at auction but are fooled into
allowing the land to fall into his devious hands. Ivy Hillcrist (Helen Haye) decides to fight dirty, digging up details of the scandalous past of
Hornblower's daughter-in-law Chloe (Phyllis Konstam).
The warring clans of The Skin Game would later be mimicked
by American soaps like Dallas and Dynasty, but there's something distinctively British in the dynamic of
Hitchcock's film. This is a dispute that's fuelled by class resentment.
The Hillcrists view the gruff Hornblower as unworthy of occupying the land
that has stood under their feet for generations, while Hornblower seems to
be on a crusade to take these toffs down a peg or two. It's difficult to
take a side in this particular war, as both Hornblower and the Hillcrists
are narcissists who will gladly destroy others to get their way. It's in
the younger generation of both families that the film gives us hope. The
Hillcrists' daughter Jill (Jill Esmond) sympathises with Chloe's
impending fate and tries to persuade her parents not to ruin her. Like
Hornblower, Chloe has risen from the gutter and survived by far from noble
means, but unlike her father-in-law, doing so hasn't turned her into a
monster. Chloe is the figure we care most about here, an innocent party
caught in a cruel conflict between foes who care more about land than
people.
Hitchcock may have later claimed disinterest in taking on
The Skin Game, but the film suggests otherwise. This is by no means a case of a
director sleepwalking through an assignment, with Hitchcock finding ways
to add cinematic flair to what is essentially a talky drama. When Jack
Hillcrist (CV France) listens to the concerns of the couple who
fear eviction, Hitchcock lowers the volume of their pleas and overlays an
image of chimney stacks polluting the view from Jack's window, a clever
way of letting us know that Jack cares not about the couple, but about his
land. Jack later finds himself at odds with his wife when he learns of her
plot to expose Chloe's past and Hitchcock films their fraught debate by
having his camera pan back and forth between them. Most filmmakers might
have opted for a simple two-shot or a pair of close-ups, but Hitchcock's
panning camera visualises their dispute, creating a sense that the camera
is being pulled back and forth between the two parties as they engage in a
moral tug-of-war. The auction scene might be the most tense of its type
ever put to screen, even outdoing a similar duel in
North by NorthWest. Hitchcock stages it as though he were filming a boxing match, each
participant feeling out their opponent before later going in for the kill,
Hitchcock cutting to increasingly tight close-ups as the bidding nears its
end and a victor emerges. Who knew two men bidding on a piece of land
could be so thrilling?
Even without Hitchcock's cinematic flair,
The Skin Game would likely be a gripping watch thanks to its
performances. Gwenn and Haye had played the same roles in an earlier
silent version of the play, and they're the standouts here. As Hornblower,
Gwenn is all fire and brimstone, spitting class-fuelled rage in the faces
of the Hillcrists. As Ivy Hillcrist, Haye is stiff and solemn, maintaining
a calm exterior that lets us know that, as is so often the case, Old Money
usually trumps New Money.
As the quiet Jack, France is convincingly aristocratic, and it's Jack's
moral dilemma that fuels much of the drama. Jack finds his wife's plot
distasteful, but we can't help but think that he occupies his position
because similar underhanded action was taken by his ancestors at some
point in the family history. Old Money tends to take wealth for granted,
and in the drama's final moments the devastated look on Jack's face is
that of a man who has just realised that he lives in a new world more
concerned with costs than values.
The Skin Game is part of
Studiocanal's 'Hitchcock: The Beginning' bluray boxset, available
now.