The Skin Game (1931)

When a rich industrialist (Santa) eyes a valuable property with intent on building factories, an old money family is determined to stop him. The conflict has unintended consequences.

Come review time it had been several weeks since I watched The Skin Game, and truth be told, I didn’t remember much. I was forced to take drastic measures. I rewatched it.

The story mostly follows the old money Hillcrist family making them seem like the protagonists, but they are not without fault. Had they been more welcoming to the upstart Hornblowers, the whole conflict might have been avoided.

The central conflict is very much old money verses new money, a la The Gilded Age, or the Slobs verses the Snobs, if you prefer. Skin game is slang for a shady business deal, what Mr. Hornblower is accused of. But it is less the deal and more the conflict that is at the center of the story. And skin game takes on another meaning entirely at the climax.

Alfred Hitchcock was a little heavy handed with visual imagery early in his career. The Hornblower son and Hillcrist daughter meet at the beginning, teasing a love interest. She, on a horse, he, in an unusually loud car. When they separate, she follows a picturesque treed path, he, towards a more urban area. This kind of visual reinforcement is throughout.

Quite unlike latter Hitchcock, there is some sloppy dialog. Actors start speaking at the wrong time and correct themselves. Other times it feels like they are entirely improvising their dialog. It doesn’t detract from the film, however. Early talkies are pretty clumsy in general. Looking back, Hitchcock said about it in his interview with Francois Truffaut "I didn't make it by choice, and there isn't much to be said about it."

The Skin Game holds up to a second viewing. It could have been a two dimensional moral tale, but chooses a more nuanced path. AMRU 3.5.

The Giant Behemoth (1959)

In a presentation, marine biologist Karnes (Gene Evans) warns that nuclear testing in the world’s oceans will eventually lead to nature striking back. He is mostly dismissed, but lucky for him nature DOES strike back in the form of … something.

Initially the monster was to be a giant blob, but producers wanted another dinosaur. Elements more consistent with a radioactive blob remain. Willis O’Brien of King Kong (1933) fame was brought in, but budgets and deadlines were tight, and it shows.

Originally titled “Behemoth, the Sea Monster” which sounds a little like a kids show, it was later renamed to The Giant Behemoth. This I presume to distinguish it from those tiny behemoths we all know and love.

Eugene Lourie, who also directed The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), dispensed with the love interest part of the story, wanting to focus on science and monster mayhem. This decision may have contributed to the exposition heavy dialog. A young couple is introduced but disappears before the second act, despite being billed third and fourth.

The Giant Behemoth is a very by-the-numbers monster movie. Unfortunately it offers nothing new to the genre, and the stop motion effects were a half step down. The creature, unlike those created by Ray Harryhausen, lacked personality. AMRU 2.5.

Soylent Green (1973)

A cop (Charleston Heston) investigates the murder of an executive of the Soylent corporation, suppliers of much of the world’s food. Despite being told to let it go, he pushes on and discovers a disturbing secret. We all know. Go ahead, say the line …

I watched Soylent Green not long before I began the blog. It was on a library VHS tape and the quality was awful. Before the climax the video portion was completely shot. A quality copy makes an enormous difference.

Despite being set in the far off year of 2022, the filmmakers made no effort to give the world a futuristic look. The future isn’t ideal. It’s just like today except there is massive overpopulation, environmental disaster, and a worldwide food shortage.

Edward G. Robinson was dying during the production of the film, and in fact died the evening after his final scene. Early in the film is an improvised scene where Thorn and Sol (Heston and Robinson) feast on fresh food, practically non-existent in this world. It’s surprisingly impactful.

Elements of the story are a bit far fetched. The police just help themselves to items and furniture from a crime scene. Not that part. Climate change has devastated the environment and corporations control society. Not that either. We use the metric system. Seriously, what were they thinking?

Food, if you can call it that, is distributed in New York like it was a refugee camp. People sleep in hallways and staircases. Things like soap and pencils are a luxury. Soylent Green is an exceptionally prescient film. It could have been far preachier or leaned too far into levity. But it struck the right tone for 1973, and it strikes the right tone for now. AMRU 4.

Journey to Italy (1954)

A bickering couple (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) travel to Italy to resolve an estate they inherited. They discover that they do not enjoy each other’s company when not at home, so they bicker some more before exploring their own interests separately, nudge nudge.

Bergman made seven films during her “banishment” from Hollywood, most of which directed by her second husband, Roberto Rossellini. I hadn’t seen any of them and was eager to watch this, one of the highest rated.

Sanders and Bergman make an odd pair. Their acting styles were starkly different and had no chemistry. Sanders seemed to be in a different film from everyone else. He expressed a lot of frustration in his autobiography. This may be the only role of his I didn’t love. He was seriously miscast.

Journey to Italy wasn’t an unpleasant watch, but in the end it didn’t work for me. The majority of the film was a whole lot of nothing, and the ending felt unearned. I can’t express how little chemistry the leads had. They were to be a couple married with eight years of history together, but seemed like they just met at the start of filming. AMRU 2.5.

Young and Innocent (1937)

A man finds a dead woman on the beach and leaves to find help. He is seen “running away” so the cops make him the prime suspect and call it a day. He sneaks out of the courthouse and goes on the run. He convinces a pretty young woman to help him find the real killer. She is also the police chief’s daughter. Will love bloom?

Pretty Erica is very young (Nova Pilbeam was 17 during filming) and dashing Robert is innocent. She’s young and he’s innocent. Not a bad play on words. Much better of a title than “A Shilling for Candles”, the source material’s title. When it came to the US it was retitled “The Girl Was Young”, leaning hard into innuendo.

The setting isn’t very different from The 39 Steps (1935), with an accused but innocent man attached to a suspicious woman. Hitchcock revisited themes quite a bit. I’m surprised there wasn’t a scene on a train.

Young and Innocent was an unexpectedly fun watch. Two weeks on I admit I am struggling to recall the details, but I do remember being entertained. It’s a better “lesser Hitchcock”. AMRU 3.5.

The Quiet Man (1952)

A retired boxer (John Wayne) from America returns to his childhood home in Ireland in search of the quiet life. A beautiful hot-headed woman (Maureen O’Hara) catches his eye, but getting her brother’s permission to court her proves complicated.

Of John Ford’s four Oscars, none were for westerns. This was his last win and first when directing his old friend, Wayne. He was also nominated for Stagecoach (1939). While not a Western, The Quiet Man sports its fair share of Duke machismo. The only reasonable way to resolve your differences is a fist fight.

Victor McLaglen plays the aforementioned brother. His health wasn’t great so the big fight scene needed to be handled carefully. Barry Fitzgerald, everyone’s favorite leprechaun, is the village matchmaker. Frequent Ford collaborator Ward Bond is the village priest. Ford gave his older brother Francis a small part. Within nine years all four would be gone.

Romance is the primary story driver, and it is technically a comedy, so I suppose it’s a rom-com. Perhaps so, but it’s an unconventional one. While some story elements didn’t age particularly well, it’s still a very pleasant watch. AMRU 3.5.

What Else I Watched, 2025Q4, and 2025 Retrospective

I've managed to get myself way behind, so I decided to combine my I recap 2025 with my Q4 post. With five movies in the queue, plus a couple more for WEIW Q1. I need to get back to posting.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Essentially a remake of the superior 1931 film. It didn't work as a horror film principally because it wasn’t one. The gorgeous cinematography, luscious sets, and performances, not to mention the trippy dream sequences, spoke of a period drama. wasn’t filmed much like a horror film and if you go into it with that expectation, you will be disappointed. Viewers of the day were. 

The Old Dark House (1932)
I watched this last in the summer of 2011 on VHS. I remembered little of the experience except that the audio quality was rather poor. A youtube video encouraged me to revisit it. I found a much better quality version streaming and enjoyed it quite a bit this time. AMRU 3.5. 

The Unknown (1927)
I heard that additional footage was found and professionally restored. I had to take a look. TCM normally runs the most recent restoration and this was no exception. Unfortunately, the only additional footage I noticed was at the beginning, showing a young boy watch people entering the circus. No additional backstory of Alonzo’s crimes, no details of the surgeon’s fate. Apparently additional scenes were lengthened with the return of additional cuts. 

The Invention of Cinema: Cinema Finds its Voice (2021)
A pretty good doc about the advent of sound cinema. There are a couple more in the series, so I will keep an eye out. 

The Apartment (1960) is better each time I watch it. 

Brazil (1985)
I’ve long wanted to watch Brazil and finally took the opportunity to see it when TCM ran the director’s cut. I shouldn’t have waited so long. It’s a master class in world building and its absurdist comedy is next level.

So, how did the year go as a whole? Not too shabby. Surprisingly, I managed four Alfred Hitchcock films with two more in the chamber. Six (I believe) foreign language films and only two silent. Need to watch me some more Buster.

I watched four noir or noir-adjacent films in November. One German, one Italian, one French, and an American. That was perfect. I may have been oversold on The Big Clock, but it was still excellent. I did try to hit some Christmas films in December, but events got in the way. Instead I watched films recorded on my cable provider DVR before I hand it in. They raised the TV portion of my bill by fifteen bucks to a frankly insane $150 per month. I intended to have done this before new years, but, well, life. Soon.

The best film I saw may have been Rebel Without a Cause, which definitely has the highest profile, or perhaps the Japanese horror film Kuroneko. More likely it was Brazil or The Apartment.

 I don’t know what the worst film I saw. There were a fair number of weak films but nothing particularly terrible. Hitchcock’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith might have been the most disappointing.