The Skin Game

1931
TV-G
1h 25m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

An old traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village and almost destroy each other.An old traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village and almost destroy each other.An old traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village and almost destroy each other.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

3.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The title comes from a slang phrase for "an unscrupulous business operation". Although this movie is British, the term is considered American and dates back to just after the American Civil War (1861-1865). It is not to be confused with the similar-sounding aphorism "to have skin in the game", which refers to someone who has a stake, financial or emotional, in a business deal, wager, or other situation.

Quotes
[last lines]
Mr. Hillcrist: What is it that gets loose when you start a fight, and makes you what you think you're not? Begin as you may, it ends in this skin game! Skin game! When we began this fight, we'd clean hands. Are they clean now? What's gentility worth if it can't stand fire?

Connections
Featured in Paul Merton Looks at Alfred Hitchcock (2009)

Soundtracks
Habanera
(1875) (uncredited)
from "Carmen"
Music by Georges Bizet
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Excerpt whistled by Jill Esmond

User reviews53

Featured review

6/10

Not exactly the snobs versus the slobs...

... but it is an adequate way to explain the dynamic for Americans.

Alfred Hitchcock directs this adaptation of John Galsworthy's play. The moneyed, cultured Hillcrists battle against the nouveau riche Hornblowers, the latter headed by the ambitious, combative patriarch (Edmund Gwenn). Their squabbles over the use of farm land for industrial purposes ends up causing heartache and tragedy for both families. Featuring C. V. France, Helen Haye, and Jill Esmond as the Hillcrists, and John Longden, Phyllis Konstam, and Frank Lawton as the other Hornblowers. With Herbert Ross, Dora Gregory, and Edward Chapman.

This had already been filmed (also with Gwenn) in 1921. The class-conscious storyline resonated well with the British, I suppose. Gwenn plays his role big, and is a stark contrast to his later, best-known Kris Kringle role in Miracle on 34th Street. Jill Esmond, the first wife of Laurence Olivier and originally the bigger star in the marriage, has one of her better film roles. As for Hitchcock's direction, the only stand-out scene is a lengthy auction with a lot of rapid-cut edits.