Downhill (1927)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 82 minuten / 105 minuten (gerestaureerde versie)
Alternative title: When Boys Leave Home
Country:
United Kingdom
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Ivor Novello, Isabel Jeans and Lilian Braithwaite
IMDb score:
6,0 (3.433)
Releasedate: 24 October 1927
Downhill plot
"A College Hero round whom is woven a picture of Love and Treachery."
Roddy Berwich (Novello) scores the winning run in an important rugby match. He is the celebrated player and is made captain of the school team. His joy does not last long, a girl falsely reports something he did not do. Out of loyalty to his school friend Tim, Roddy does not deny the charges and is expelled from boarding school. When he gets home, his father calls him a liar and Roddy also leaves the parental home. A ramble begins that takes him further and further downhill.
Actors and actresses
Roddy Berwick
Dr. Dawson
Sir Thomas Berwick
Tim Wakeley
The Rev. Henry Wakeley
Sybil Wakeley
Mabel
Lady Berwick
Julia
Archie
Reviews & comments
John Barry
-
- 3410 messages
- 638 votes
I thought: let me try some silent films. While The Lodger (1927) pleasantly surprised me, Downhill disappointed me.
I also saw the film on a DVD without music. What John Milton says that this affects the viewing experience is completely true. I had seen The Lodger with music and the music still managed to create the necessary tension. If I had seen Downhill like John Milton with live music underneath, my viewing experience would certainly have been better. How much better? Yes, that is of course difficult for me to say as I have not seen a version with music underneath.
I also thought the film was a bit long-winded and the story is not entirely clear. So Roddy is accused of something he did not do (the DVD states that it is about theft) but what exactly Roddy is accused of It is not entirely clear to me either. (the movie isn't really clear about this)
Especially from the moment Roddygoes to Paris I thought it all became boring. I didn't think the movie had an interesting story. The conversations in the film also lasted too long. Sometimes more use of subtitles could have been made. Only at the end does it get a bit interesting when Roddy hallucinates. This was quite a nice piece.
The acting in this film is good. Ivor Novello in particular plays very well.
At first I wanted to give the film a 1.5*. But I realize that I probably would have appreciated the film a little better with music underneath. Therefore a slightly higher figure.
2 stars for this movie.
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 11374 messages
- 9897 votes
Hitchcock's penultimate silent film for his mentor Michael Balcon is based on the play Down Hill co-written by Ivor Novello, the lead actor in Hitchcock's breakthrough film The Lodger. Novello himself plays Roddy Berwick, a widely respected student whose reputation suffers enormous damage when a girl (wrongly) accuses him of inappropriate behavior. Even though he knows who the actual perpetrator is, he takes the blame and accepts the consequences. As the title suggests, he goes through a deep valley from which he seems to crawl out after some time until he falls for the wrong woman who only makes things worse. The story is undeniably melodramatic and uninteresting, but Novello's acting is considerably more controlled than in The Lodger and Hitchcock's visual ingenuity provides some high-quality moments.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Bobbejaantje
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- 2260 messages
- 2062 votes
A solid silent with a story that is somewhere between Charles Dickens and a station novel. Visually as it should be and as you expect from this era. The subjective reverse shot is a nice touch from Hitch. There is also the hallucination towards the end. One of the scenes on the ship seems to be a tribute to Nosferatu.
This is one of Hitchcock's first films. So from his early days and not what is seen as his trademark. This is a kind of adventure film with sentiment. Yet it already contains a theme that will later be discussed frequently in his oeuvre: a man is wrongly accused. In any case, cinematically it is all well presented with the use of suggestion that is the order of the day in silents. Technically it is top. Hitchcock has always been top technically, even in his first films. And furthermore, it completely holds its own against the average good silent.
hitchcock challenge #12
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