DVD...

Skin...

1966
Directed by: Cyril Frankel
Written by: Peter Curtis (novel - The Devil's Own), Nigel Kneale (screenplay)
Produced by: Anthony Nelson Keys
Studio: Hammer

Starring:
Joan Fontaine .... Gwen Mayfield
Kay Walsh .... Stephanie Bax
Alec McCowen .... Alan Bax
Ann Bell .... Sally
Ingrid Brett .... Linda
John Collin .... Dowsett
Michele Dotrice .... Valerie
Gwen Ffrangcon Davies .... Granny Rigg

What a great movie. Really. This film was such a surprise and I really did not know what to expect as most reviews I have read about it didn't care for it all that much. Oscar winning actress Joan Fontaine plays Gwen Mayfield, a teacher who in the opening scene is terrorized by a witch doctor and some other locals in an unspecified African village. As they close in on her she is down on the ground terrified, and then... the scene cuts out to the opening credits.

The next thing we see is Fontaine at a hotel in an interview with a priest for a teaching position in the small town of Haddaby in Southern England. She has had an extended break since she left Africa and the priest asks about her experience there and what made her leave. Fontaine struggles to describe what happened and is very shaken before he excuses her from answering the question. She assumes she lost the job, but to her surprise, he hires her on the spot.

After arriving in the small town she quickly works on assimilating into the community. She teaches teenage children at the local public school and tries to become involved in their lives as a responsible adult and mentor. There is one student who she perhaps tries a little too hard to help. He could go to another part of the country to study but she offers to personally tutor him. This, as it turns out, is a mistake.

The priest who interviewed Fontaine earlier is actually not a priest. It is a bit of a harmless fetish of his. He is actually Alan Bax, brother of Stephanie Bax, who is a writer of some note and also an expert on witchcraft and native customs and traditions.

Fontaine's character is befriended by Gwen Mayfield and suggests they write an article together on witchcraft. Of course Fontaine is honored and readily agrees. All the while, strange goings on are occurring in her class and in the town. There is a strange girl who plays with dolls and her boyfriend is the boy who Fontaine had agreed to tutor. The two of them have a fight over something and the boy disappears.

Fontaine tries to investigate the matter but runs into dead ends from everyone she tries to interview on the matter. Her friendship with Alan Bax also blooms and the beginnings of a romance seem to be taking place.

Before too long, Fontaine is on to the fact that something is terribly amiss in the town. She is lead to Stephanie and Alan's home with the intention of recruiting her into the witches group that most of the town is a part of. It is a fairly climactic ending and the dance scenes of the pagan ritual are pretty interesting to watch.

Joan Fontaine really is excellent as is Kay Walsh as Stephanie Bax. The story goes along at a nice pace and hardly lets up. There is also a cool scene where a butcher skins a rabbit while he is having a conversation with Fontaine's character. That scene along with the dance scene at the end make the movie worthwhile to watch, but the tightly paced direction by Cyril Frankel (in his only film with Hammer) and excellent acting make this a great example of what Hammer was capable of in their heyday. Why the film did not start a a new franchise into witchcraft films for Hammer I do not know. Perhaps this movie was too intelligent with not enough blood, gore and sex to arouse to arouse the demand for more. There is some sexually tension between the teenage couple, and there is also some pretty suggestive dancing there at the end, but there is no nudity and just a little gore (the rabbit skinning scene is the by far the goriest scene).

Anchor Bay does their usual fine job in on this dvd as they do with all the films in their Hammer Collection series. The video is 1.66:1 anamorphic with a clean picture. The audio is Dolby Digital mono and sounds great on both my computer and stereo. The extras are a couple of TV spots and the UK trailer. There is also a "World of Hammer" episode entitled "Wicked Women" narrated by former Hammer star Oliver Reed that is quite entertaining. I own the dvd and glad I do, especially of you got a great deal on it like I did...

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