John Galsworthy best known for writing the mammoth epic The Forsyte Saga also did plays and among them is The Skin Game. After debuting in London the play ran on Broadway for the 1920-21 season for 176 performances. In the original work there was a great deal of reference to the late World War which has been removed from this production. That probably wasn't a good idea since I think it gutted a lot of Galsworthy was trying to convey.
Other than the fact that it was directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his early talkie period, The Skin Game would have been forgotten ages ago. It concerns a pair of rich, but very different families. The Hillcrists with C.V. France as patriarch are an old landed gentry clan while the Hornblowers and that's a Dickensian name if there ever was one are newly minted rich. Edmund Gwenn is looking to buy land to build factories and expand, while France wants a quiet contemplative life in the country. That's the recipe for a family feud that spells tragedy for one of the members as a business dispute gets ugly and personal real fast.
The film is more Galsworthy than Hitchcock just as Hitch's other early effort Juno And The Paycock is more Sean O'Casey than something you would associate with the master of suspense. Hitchcock did better with Galsworthy than O'Casey in that he made it more than a photographed stage play, still the subject matter is so dated. Some oblique references to the British political situation and class struggle would have no meaning for a modern American audience.
Other than the fact that it was directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his early talkie period, The Skin Game would have been forgotten ages ago. It concerns a pair of rich, but very different families. The Hillcrists with C.V. France as patriarch are an old landed gentry clan while the Hornblowers and that's a Dickensian name if there ever was one are newly minted rich. Edmund Gwenn is looking to buy land to build factories and expand, while France wants a quiet contemplative life in the country. That's the recipe for a family feud that spells tragedy for one of the members as a business dispute gets ugly and personal real fast.
The film is more Galsworthy than Hitchcock just as Hitch's other early effort Juno And The Paycock is more Sean O'Casey than something you would associate with the master of suspense. Hitchcock did better with Galsworthy than O'Casey in that he made it more than a photographed stage play, still the subject matter is so dated. Some oblique references to the British political situation and class struggle would have no meaning for a modern American audience.