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| DOWNHILL (aka: WHEN
BOYS LEAVE HOME) (director:
Alfred Hitchcock; screenwriters: Eliot
Stannard/from the play As
Source Material by Ivor Novello
& Constance Collier;
cinematographer: Claude McDonnell;
editor: Ivor Montagu;
cast: Ivor Novello (Roddy
Berwick), Isabel Jeans (Julia), Ian Hunter (Archie),
Ben Webster (Dr. Dawson), Lilian
Braithwaite (Lady Berwick), Norman
McKinnel (Sir Thomas Berwick), Robin
Irvine (Tim Wakely), Sybil Rhoda (Sybil
Wakely), Annette Benson (Mabel), Jerrold
Robertshaw (Rev. Henry Wakely); Runtime:
95; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Michael
Balcon; PRS; 1927-silent-UK) "Blame Novello for this turkey, Hitchcock did all he could to make this creaky story work with some creative visuals." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz The
fourth film of Alfred Hitchcock ("Vertigo"/"Rear
Window"/"Psycho") has such a ridiculous story
line, that not even some inventive
experimental dream sequences by the future Master can
save this bomb. It's based on a hit
play by Ivor Novello and Constance Collier, and stars
Novello in the title role. When sixth-form boarding
school rich boy and rugby star Roddy Berwick
(Ivor Novello), with a golden future,
accompanies his room-mate Tim Wakely (Robin
Irvine) to a bun shop, Tim takes the
forward shop girl Mabel (Annette
Benson) in the back and impregnates
her. But when she goes to the Headmaster (Ben
Webster), she accuses the innocent Roddy,
son of Sir Thomas (Norman McKinnel) and Lady Berwick
(Lilian Braithwaite), figuring he has more dough
than the reverend's kid. When Roddy fails to tell the
Headmaster the truth and takes the fall
for his friend so he can keep his scholarship, Roddy
is kicked out of school on the spot and can only reply
"Does this mean, sir, that I shall not be able to play
for the Old Boys." When
his upset parents hear about his dismissal, the irate
dad sends him packing and he treks to the West End to
be a chorus boy. Inheriting some dough, he's seduced
by a gold-digger actress, Julia (Isabel
Jeans), and marries her, and when she runs through all
his money she runs off with another man. Roddy's again
crushed by those he trusts, but survives by finding
work in Paris as a taxi dancer and gigolo.
But his downhill slide continues and he can't
justify being a gigolo and ends up ill and
alone living in the slums of Marseilles. His
luck changes when some sailors feel sorry for the lad
and help him return to England. It ends on a
happy note, as Roddy's family welcomes him back to the
family in London. Blame
Novello for this turkey, Hitchcock did all he could to
make this creaky story work with some creative visuals
and showed flashes of his later filmmaking
skills. But not one bit of this story makes sense or
is believable. REVIEWED ON 7/30/2012 GRADE: C Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |