The Skin Game (1931) is Hitchcock being mean to rich people

Is The Skin Game worth your time today?

If you are a Hitchcock completionist, then yes, you have to see it.

If you like watching old British people in fancy suits absolutely ruin each other’s lives over a patch of grass, you will love it.

But if you are expecting a spy thriller or a guy hanging off a monument, you are going to be very bored. 😴

It is basically a movie about snobbery.

The Hillcrists are the 'old money' family who have lived in the village forever.

The Hornblowers are the 'new money' family who want to build factories and actually make things.

Mr. Hornblower is played by Edmund Gwenn, who most people know as Santa Claus from Miracle on 34th Street.

Here, he is not jolly at all. He is loud, pushy, and has a very thick accent that sometimes makes the early 1930s audio struggle a bit.

The whole conflict starts because Hornblower promised not to evict some peasants from their cottages, but then he does it anyway.

The Hillcrists get all offended, mostly because they think he’s 'common' and doesn’t know how to behave.

It is funny how much they care about a piece of land called Centry.

They talk about it like it is the Holy Grail or something, but it just looks like a regular field with some trees.

There is this one scene at an auction that is probably the best thing in the movie.

Hitchcock clearly got tired of just filming people standing in rooms talking, so he went wild with the camera here.

The camera spins around the room, jumping from face to face as the bids go up.

You can feel the tension even though they are just shouting numbers at each other.

I noticed one guy in the crowd who just looks completely lost, like he wandered onto the set by accident.

He just keeps blinking while the main characters scream about nine thousand pounds! 😲

The movie is based on a play by John Galsworthy, and you can really tell.

People enter and exit rooms in a very 'stagey' way.

Sometimes the dialogue feels like it was written to be heard in the back row of a theater, not on a film set.

Mrs. Hillcrist is the most interesting character because she is truly ruthless.

She finds out a secret about Hornblower’s daughter-in-law, Chloe.

Instead of being a 'noble' aristocrat, she uses that secret to blackmail them.

It is pretty dark for 1931.

I felt bad for Chloe, honestly.

She is just caught in the middle of these two old men measuring their egos.

There’s a moment where she’s hiding behind a curtain, and the look on her face is just pure dread.

It’s much more dramatic than any of the stuff with the land.

The movie feels a bit like Lady Windermere's Fan in how it treats social reputation like a life-or-death matter.

If your reputation is gone, your life is basically over in this world.

I didn't really care for the ending, though.

It feels a bit rushed, like they realized they were running out of film and needed to stop.

The Hillcrists 'win,' but they feel bad about it because they had to get their hands dirty.

Hence the title, The Skin Game—once you start playing, you lose some skin.

It’s not as exciting as Danger Lights, which came out around the same time and had actual trains falling off bridges.

This is much more of a 'sitting in a drawing room' kind of movie.

But Hitchcock’s visual touches are there if you look for them.

The way he uses shadows in the final scenes makes the house feel like a prison.

And the sound design is actually okay for how early it was in the 'talkie' era.

You can hear the wind in the trees sometimes, which adds a bit of atmosphere.

It’s definitely better than something like Passion Flower, which is just pure melodrama.

Odd things I noticed:

• The makeup on the women is very heavy, they look like they have white masks on.
• There is a very long shot of a chimney smoking that goes on for way too long.
• The way they drink tea is so aggressive.
• One of the characters wears a hat that looks like a small boat.

In the end, it’s a solid 6 out of 10.

It is a bit of a slog in the middle when they just talk about property law.

But when the blackmail starts, it actually gets some teeth.

Don't expect a masterpiece, just expect a very grumpy movie about neighbors.

It makes me glad I don't live in a small English village in 1931. 🏘️

Anyway, if you've seen his other early stuff, this is better than some, worse than others.

It's definitely better than the silent version they made years before.

The sound actually helps you hear the spite in their voices.