17. Rich and Strange (1932)

"The story was about a young couple who won a lot of money and took a trip around the world." That is how Alfred Hitchcock described the film to François Truffaut in their series of interviews and that is apt a description as you can get. Watching it in 2020, I enjoyed the movie. Watching it in 1932, I probably would not have comparing it to its competition.

Going further than Hitchcock's description some 30+ years later, the synopsis (based on a novel by Dale Collins, which is really difficult to find) concerns office worker Fred Hill (Henry Kendall) and his wife Emily (Joan Barry) living a modest existence in their small London apartment. Fred receives a letter from his uncle giving the couple their future inheritance. Fred quits his job and the two leave for a once-in-the-lifetime vacation starting in Paris and then a cruise in the Orient. En route (while Fred is stuck in his cabin with seasickness), Emily is charmed by Commander Gordon (Percy Marmont) and when Fred recovers (thanks to spinster busybody played by Elsie Randolph), he is becomes taken by a German princess (Betty Amman). By the time the cruise ship docks at Singapore, the couple plans to leave each other with their suitors. Eventually things don't work out and the two have to head back to England.

Rich and Strange is a bizarre movie. The plot plays more like a series of vignettes rather than a single storyline. There are long sequences where there are absences of dialogue and there are even intertitles, some of which are needless (One instance, after Fred meets the princess, we see an intertitle, Fred Meets a Princess. Gee thanks Captain Obvious). There are also copious amounts of stock footage (which would be clearly used for background scenery in a low budget picture), so you really wonder what British International Pictures was thinking about Hitchcock's abilities when they set up the budget.

I found it kind of funny that in a future film like The Man Who Knew Too Much, where a couple goes on vacation and encounters espionage and danger, here we get a low key romantic assignations or we would have in later films a cast that might have Cary Grant or Grace Kelly as the couple, but here we have non-descript Henry Kendall and Joan Barry, who are decent in their roles, but are not that memorable. Marmont is too stuffy as Emily's intended and Amman is too over the top as the tease.

The film was a disappointment both financially and critically. Variety said that the film seemed to be a matter of taste and praised the performers, but the review makes it seem like its trying to circumvent the fact that its an artsy film rather than commercial fare. The Times really felt Hitchcock was out of his element and despite his skills, could make a purse of a sow's ear. Hitchcock did seem to be happy to talk about the film, but felt that the cast should have been stronger.

The movie was released on DVD in 2007 by Lionsgate Entertainment, but I believe its out of print. The film is also in the public domain, so it can be viewed on Youtube or other streaming sites.

16. Mary (1931)

Today if a production company is releasing a film into a foreign language market, all that needs to be done is to translate the dialogue into subtitles. Dubbing is another option even though it seems to be less popular that it was about 40 years ago where Godzilla movies, German krimi films and Italian spaghetti westerns got that treatment. In the early days of talking pictures, dubbing was not an option since recording for film was in its infancy and with silent pictures being passe, studio bigwigs didn't think people would want to read subtitles.

Film studios had a solution, but an expensive one. Reshoot the film with a foreign language cast. There are several existing examples with dual versions available for comparison. Universal's Dracula (1931) is probably the best known example, with the original Bela Lugosi version shot during the day and a Spanish language version shot at night. Eight Laurel & Hardy shorts and one feature were made in Spanish (as well as some in German, French, Italian and Esperanto) with the comedy duo reading their lines off a blackboard. Paramount on Parade (1930) was translated into at least 4 foreign languages (Paramount did a few French versions of Maurice Chevalier films his native country). Foreign language films also received translation to English such as The Blue Angel (1930) and M (1931).

Starting with The Pleasure Garden and The Mountain Eagle, Hitchcock already had a German market and in 1930 while Hitchcock was filming Murder!, simultaneously, he worked on the German version on the same set, but a different cast (Miles Mander and Esme Chaplin were the only two to be in both versions).

The plot is no different than the original, but the German version is about 25 minutes shorter than its British counterpart with a chunks of dialogue (especially during the jury deliberation scene) and an effective montage of Sir John and Markham (renamed Brown in the German version, as were a number of the characters) discussing their next move while we see Diana/Mary pacing her jail cell while the gallows are constructed.

I had no success of finding reviews of this film from 1931 (which I don't think would be easy to translate). Hitchcock did have difficulty with the shooting since his German was only passable and he claimed he wasn't too familiar with the language's idioms to be too effective. Also, the production studio, Süd-Film, wanted several changes to the script which Hitchcock didn't want since he didn't want to deviate too much from the original.

Personally, I found the German version to be a slight improvement over the British film, only because the acting is a lot better here. Where Herbert Marshall was stuffy and droll in Murder!, Alfred Abel is a lot more relaxed and comfortable in his performance (in fairness to Marshall, Murder! was his sound debut). Olga Tschechowa is no great legend of cinema history, but she was a lot better here than Norah Baring as the condemned woman.

Apparently, Mary was a lost film for several years and the edition presented on Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray and DVD (which can be purchased here) is taken from the only known print. That being said, it does seem to have some warbled dialogue around 40 minutes into the film where the Browns get a call from Sir John and the ending does seem to be missing its last scene. However, its good to be able to compare and contrast both versions at your pleasure.

15. The Skin Game (1931)

Hornblower (Edmund Gwenn) bids while the Hilcrists (Jill Esmond, C.V. France and Helen Haye from right to left) look on

The Skin Game is based off a play written in 1920 by John Galsworthy and also made into a motion picture the next year (Edmund Gwenn and Helen Haye reprise their roles in the Hitchcock version).

The movie tells the story of two families, the old money Hilcrists and the formerly working class, now rich Hornblowers. Both patriarchs of the families, (C.V. France playing Mr. Hilcrist and Edmund Gwenn as Hornblower) are trying to get possession of a piece of land. Hornblower is seeking to obtain it so he can expand his pottery factories and Hilcrist seems not to want any of Hornblower's expansion into their nearby area. Hornblower acquires it at an auction, and Mrs. Hilcrist (Helen Haye) seeks her retribution by having an investigator (Edward Chapman) find out that Hornblower's daughter-in-law Chole (Phyllis Konstam) was hired out as the "other woman" in divorce cases. Hornblower agrees to sell the property to the Hilcrists so that the secret doesn't get out, but what happens when it does?

Chloe Hornblower (Phyllis Konstam) as the woman with a past

As it seems up to this point in his career, when Hitchcock adapts a play, his directing lacks imagination. The movie, like Juno and the Paycock, is filled with numerous long takes and a slow pace. That's not to say its a bad movie, which it isn't. The acting is very good by the performers especially highlighting future Oscar winner Gwenn, Haye and Konstam in their roles.

The scenario feels like one that could be stretched across many genres including romance and westerns with two families fighting over a plot of land (which here could be another example of a Hitchcock MacGuffin). The ending seems to feel more like the end of an act rather than the end of a play with the movie not exactly having a resolution to what you watched for the past 80 minutes. The highlight of the film is the auction scene which we will see Hitchcock use as a suspenseful setting in Saboteur and North by Northwest.

Hitchcock did not have much to say about the movie in his interview with Francois Truffaut, primarily because the movie was assigned to him rather than a personal project for Hitchcock. I was unable to find any information on how the film did at the box office but if it goes by critic's reviews, I don't think it was a success. The Western Mail critic pointed out Hitchcock's direction only makes this a picture to see if you've never seen the play and otherwise, Hitchcock's approach was a disappointment. The Brunley Express did praise the cast in its review.

The Skin Game recently got a restoration by the British Film Institute and is available as the only talking picture in its recently released DVD and Blu-Ray Hitchcock: British International Pictures set which can be purchased here.