Downhill (film)
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| Downhill | |
|---|---|
 Original Movie Poster |
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| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon C.M. Wolf |
| Written by | Play: Constance Collier Ivor Novello Adaption: Eliot Stannard |
| Starring | Ivor Novello Robin Irvine Isabel Jeans Ian Hunter |
| Cinematography | Claude L. McDonnell |
| Editing by | Ivor Montagu Lionel Rich |
| Distributed by |  Wardour Films Sono Art |
| Release date(s) | October 24, 1927 1928 |
| Running time | 80 min. 74 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | Silent film English intertitles |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Downhill (released in the U.S. as When Boys Leave Home) is a 1927 silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the play Down Hill. It is Hitchcock's fourth film.
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[edit] Plot
Roddy Berwich (Ivor Novello), born into a rich family, he is the School Captain, and head of the "Old Boys" Rugby team. He makes a "pact" of loyalty with his best friend Tim Wakely (Robin Irvine). Roddy begins a downhill spiral after being falsely accused of impregnating a waitress (Daisy Johnson), who turns vindictive after Roddy spurns her amorous advances. Roddy accepts the blame, to protect the real father, Tim, who desperately needs to stay in school to receive his Oxford scholarship.
Roddy is expelled from school and leaves home after being disowned by his father (Norman McKinnel) who believes him guilty of the false accusation.[1] (The Internet Movie Database incorrectly states that Robby accepts the blame for a theft).
Roddy finds some work as an actor in a theatre. He marries the leading actress Julia (Isabel Jeans) after inheriting £30,000. The unfaithful Julia secretly continues an affair with her leading man (Ian Hunter) and discards Roddy after his inheritance is exhausted. He becomes a gigolo in a Paris music hall but soon quits over self loathing at romancing women for money.
Roddy ends up alone and delirious in a shabby room in Marseilles. Some sailors take pity on him and ship him back home. Robby's father has learned the truth about the waitress's false accusation during his son's absence and joyfully welcomes him back. Robby resumes his previous life.
[edit] Cast
- Ivor Novello - Roddy Berwick
- Robin Irvine - Tim Wakely
- Isabel Jeans - Julia
- Ian Hunter - Archie
- Norman McKinnel - Sir Thomas Berwick
- Annette Benson - Mabel
- Sybil Rhoda - Sybil Wakely
- Lilian Braithwaite - Lady Berwick
- Violet Farebrother - The Poet
- Ben Webster - Dr. Dawson
- Hannah Jones - The Dressmaker
- Jerrold Robertshaw - Reverend Henry Wakely
- Barbara Gott - Madame Michet
- Alf Goddard - The Swede
- J. Nelson - Hibbert
[edit] Production
The film is based on the play, Down Hill, written by its star Ivor Novello and Constance Collier under the combined alias David L'Estrange. The stage performance had a short run in the West End and longer in the provinces. In the play Novello thrilled his female fans by washing his bare legs after the rugby match. An appreciative James Agate, drama critic for The London Sunday Times, wrote "The scent of good honest soap crosses the footlights". Hitchcock included a similar scene of Novello for the film in which he is shown naked from the waist up.
Hitchcocks's emerging style is well demonstrated in this film. He used a variety of screen techniques to tell the story with a minimum of title cards, preferring instead to allow the film's visual narrative tell the story. A good example is the scene after Roddy leaves home. It opens with the title card "The world of make-believe". This is followed by a closeup of Roddy in a tuxedo. The camera pulls back to reveal Roddy is actually playing a waiter on stage in a theatre. Hitchcock also incorporated shots of a descending escalator at Maida Vale tube station as a visual metaphor for Roddy's downhill descent. He experimented with dream sequences by shooting them in super impositions and blurred images. He played with shadow and light in much the same way as directors of German films of the time.
The scene involving Novello's voyage home on a boat was tinted a "sickly" green to express mental torment and nausea.
[edit] External links
- Downhill at the Internet Movie Database
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