Downhill (1927) - Alfred Hitchcock

In the final moments of silent cinema, in 1927, just a year before reaching the great revolution of sound to the seventh art, one of the biggest names in cinema, the British titan Alfred Hictchcock showed a significant and known prolific activity. Three films even produced Hitch in that year, before he finally made his triumphant entry to talkies; The Lodger earned him his first major international success, then The ring would continue the early stage of the master of suspense. The third film of that year becomes the one in question in this article, a film that departs largely from many of the cornerstones that would accompany forever Hitch's movies, and that he was already outlining in his features then, but nevertheless keeps closeness and loyalty to other main reference points. The British adapts once again work from literature, a play curiously co-written by the protagonist, Ivor Novello, in which the vicissitudes and misfortunes of a young student in Britain are reflected, who covers up to a friend, assumes culpability for a breach of him, being expelled from their school, and initiating a series of bitter adventures for him, but not everything is lost. Hitchcock continued cementing one of the most remarkable filmographies, and this silent film, without being a masterpiece, is a significant mark of his genius.

          

After seeing a text informing that this is a story about the disparate loyalty of two friends, we are introduced to a world of youth, young students play rugby in their student campus. Among them is Roddy Berwick (Novello), who is hailed by his peers, he is appreciated by everyone, including the school principal. During a dinner, Mabel (Annette Benson), flirts with both Roddy and Tim Wakely (Robin Irvine), his great friend; she is dependant in a shop, inviting Tim to an alone meeting, but both friends go to the shop. When in there, Tim tries to molest her, not getting it, the girl continues flirting with both, but the next day the director sends for the two friends. Mabel accuses Rod of trying to molest her, and, although Tim was the real offender, he accepts guilt, is expelled from school, and his father, after learning, despises him, Rod leaves home. Working as a waiter, he meets Julia Fotheringale (Isabel Jeans), famous actress, and she, when the young man inherits 30,000 pounds of his godmother, gets to steal his money in collaboration with her friend Archie (Ian Hunter). A collapsed Roddy is dedicated to being the company of older women, he is a gigolo, activity that ends up destroying him, but at the worst moment, alone, with no house nor friends, crazed, instinctively returns home, where his father will give him a pleasant surprise.

The movie's preface already will inform us correctly, the picture we will watch portrays a dissimilar story of loyalty, it tells us that a friend keeps it, and at a high price; great way to go diagramming what will be largely appreciated in the feature. Then we are introduced to the youth world, that is portrayed with the rugby game, with the innocence of young flirting, school, games in the dining room, all initial subtle and carefree tonic proper of youth, a tonic which will be maintained during the first part of the film. We attend to a novelty in the Hitchcockian cinema, something hitherto unseen, he does not use the suspense that had already discovered with The Lodger, does not lays his story on murders nor mysterious deaths, but uses another kind of darkness, another sleazy topic, moral decay, the collapse experienced by the young, the individual who calmly accepts a guilt stranger to him, accepts what at first almost ruins his life, a new topic and relatively unheard of in the filmography of Hitch. It is set in the picture, yes, one of the few guidelines -perhaps the only one- that would be constant in his films, the culprit false, but in a variety of first time seen, the false guilty accepting this false guilt, even at the expense of vital integrity, something that we would not see repeated until I confess (1953). It seemed that his luck would shift when receiving succulent and unexpected inheritance, when he marries a famous actress, but that will be only the final step to bottoming out in his decline, when Julia divests him of nearly all his money, is an endless road, an endless fall that is presented in the film. But then comes the worst, having to resort to be gigolo, another character says she can not believe he has reached that, curiously the character with whom one of the most pathetic moments of the film is generated, an elderly woman lustfully looking the young fellow, offensive image, is his lowest point.

Hitch is often accused of misogyny, and that might be seen, perhaps, in the way that the female characters are addressed, always shown the women as weathervanes, light and licentious, provocative, without too much judgment, always creating problems for their fickle and reprehensible behaviors. Both Mabel and Julia are negative elements, as in many films by Hitch is appreciated. First Mabel, who flirts shamelessly with the two friends, cites one of them alone, to finally, between both, accusing the innocent one of having had dubious intentions toward her, when actually she tried to instigate him; without any problems or reasons, she shows a despicable behavior, spoiling the life of the most beloved student. Julia would complet misogyny, the actress who after marrying Rod, finally ends up wresting his large inheritance, plunging him into misery; attitudes like this are seen more then once in Htchcock, especially in his initial stage, perverse women whose role seems to be only generating problems, with poor judgment or unscrupulous, main reason for director being accused thay way, maybe not so unjustly. Hitch is an individual who, speaking in terms of silent cinema, was never excessively devotee of verbal language, the proof is that almost dispenses explanatory texts or dialogues, for over the first fifteen minutes, almost only one dialogue is appreciated; Hitchcock never used the conventional way of narrating or transmitting, from his initial works is noticed that. As a natural consequence of this, the actors, in the latest years of silent cinema, had a higher dramatic responsibility, lacking dialogues, their histrionic skills, variety of records, had a much greater impact on the narrative. With few exceptions, only at the end we will see the camera regain an ease and variety of records that previously filmmaker was already perfecting, we do not see in his lens his marked agility and ease-of movements -seen for example, in the two quoted features of the same year- of before, no travellings, just some interesting moment of light contrasts. The first daring or shake of the lethargy of the camera is seen when the two friends approach the principal, indeed the first turning point of the film, the focus and camera movement depict the first moment of a certain vigor, and we must wait to see the next one.

For ending sequences filmmaker gets back that ease and prowess that was developing: placing ourselves in the perspective of tormented Rod, a tremulous camera transmits his final collapse. Trembling sequence shots goes parading with overlayed shots, close-ups and certain darkness to capture that terrible moment, even some images as a leitmotif (posters referring to Mabel, gears), contrasting light and shadows game, etc. Everything is articulated in moments that condense the visually most remarkable assets of the picture, because apart from this, in that field there is not much to see in the film, the dizzying visual zenith of the movie is left to the end, correct resource since this aligns with the climax of the story itself. As recalls the great Truffaut in the extensive interview that the French made to his idol Hitch, the symbolism of the escalator obviously serves to make the analogy to the decline Roddy is about to embark in when he leaves his house; degradation that is just beginning, and it will again be symbolized with the elevator, which also descends, as the degradation continues for false guilty. When Rod, apparently recovered, happy to heir 30,000 pounds, gets a new disappointment from another female, symbolically falls again, this elevator goes down, descends, as our protagonist. This feature of silent period of Hitch certainly is not the best he produced, lacks several of his main artistic edges (including humor, an essential tool in virtually all films by Hitch, appears with droppers in this exercise), it is relatively a rarity in his production. But eventually there will be a happy ending, there is redemption, hell is over, there we do have something very consistent with Hitch, thus finishing a picture, a happy ending despite all the nightmare, when we see Roddy playing rugby again. Hitch produced this feature as last task with his then producer, the Gainsborough Pictures, a few weeks before finishing contract with that study, reuses Ivor Novello, who incidentally, along with Constance Collier -both under the pseudonym David L ' Estrange-, wrote the play that inspired the film. Took the British Novello's popularity, his success with the female audience (he was a sort of sex symbol then), and wields, for a change, a warm sexuality, with moments like Ivor topless. Among the nine exercises of silent films by Hitch, maybe this is not considered as one of his highest points, but being a film of this stage of the British, is enough incentive for viewing.