Saturday, January 25, 2020
5. Downhill (1927)
Hitchcock's next project at Gainsborough, following The Lodger, teams him up again with it's star Ivor Novello based on the play Down Hill Novello wrote with Constance Collier (under the pseudonym David L'Estrange).
Downhill (released in the USA as When Boys Leave Home) tells the story of Roddy Berwick (Novello) a student at an English boarding school where he's the captain of the rugby team as well as school captain. One night, his roommate Tim Wakely (Robin Irvine) takes him to a bakery shop where Tim has a date with the clerk Mabel (Annette Benson). Some time later Mabel goes to the school headmaster to say she's pregnant and Roddy is the father. In reality, Tim is the guilty party but Roddy accepts the blame since it would cost Tim his scholarship if found out. Roddy is expelled and goes back home where his father kicks him out because of the scandal. Roddy then goes on a downward spiral across London and Paris before trying to get back home.
Being Hitchcock's fourth film we can continue to see the progress he makes as a director. In the accusation scene there are two great point of view shots from both Mabel & Roddy's perspectives as the blame is about to be placed. Later in the film as Roddy is banished from his home, watching his slow descent in to the London Underground (subway) via an escalator emphasizes the foreshadowing of Roddy's future. Eventually as Roddy returns home via ship, the seasickness combines with the nightmares/visions of his accusers which can even give the audience an uneasy feeling.
Despite all of this, Downhill does disappoint when compared with The Lodger. The movie does seem to drag along while at the same time depressing the audience as we see Roddy's deterioration continue. Hitchcock manages to show each part of Roddy's breakdown but they don't seem to be seamlessly intertwined which also makes the audience wonder the time span the movie covers. Hitchcock told Francois Truffaut that Downhill was based on a poor play while just seeming to be a series of sketches. Humor is also missing from the movie with only a couple of fleeting moments of a smirk early in the film.
Novello is good here but as is always done, we have to suspend some disbelief that a 34 year actor is playing a kid in boarding school as well as not look like a stereotypical derelict by the end of the movie. The supporting cast does well in their roles with the one standout being Isabel Jeans as the stage actress who becomes Roddy's wife and then takes him to the cleaners.
Once again, there is some originality here but as the saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Critics at the time felt the same. A Bioscope reviewer praised Hitchcock's interest despite the poor script. The Guardian critic was more harsh said it seemed just like The Lodger without being a good film.
Downhill appears as an extra on the DVD and Blu-Ray of the Criterion editions of The Lodger which can be purchased here.
Friday, January 17, 2020
4. The Ring (1927)
After the success of the Lodger, British International Pictures scooped up Hitchcock from Gainsborough, and the first film under this new collaboration (at BIP's Elstree studios) would be a romantic drama set in the world of boxing. (Hitchcock's last two films for Gainsborough, Downhill and Easy Virtue, were filmed before The Ring, but released after, so I'll be reviewing the films in order of their release date).
The Ring's plot focuses on "One Round" Jack Sander (Carl Brisson) who takes on all comers in a carnival for a one pound prize to anyone who can last a round with him. A visiting Australian Bob Corby (Ian Hunter) takes the challenge after he's encouraged by the Mabel (Lillian Hall-Davis), who sells tickets as well as being Jack's girlfriend. After Bob stuns the crowd by knocking out Jack, its revealed that he's the Australian heavyweight champ. He gives Jack a job as his training partner while letting him climb the ranks in the boxing strata. Mabel starts to develop more than a crush on Bob, which continues after she marries Jack. After defeating the last challenger to the title, Jack has it out with Bob, which leads to the two fighting for the crown, with seemingly Mabel as the prize.
The movie has a pedestrian and predictable plot (the only one in Hitchcock's career that is solely credited to him, even though its obvious that frequent Hitchcock screenwriter Eliot Stannard and Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville has a hand in its conception) but I think the director goes further than he did with The Lodger in bringing the story to the screen in an engaging way.
The main cast is ho-hum. Brisson is good but does really stand out. Lillian Hall-Davis is a dilemma here because her characterization doesn't really make her likable since she's in this school girl crush with Bob, while seemingly ignoring Jack throughout the entire picture making the audience really wonder if Jack should make the effort in winning her back. She's not bad in the role, but I just don't really think the way Mabel is written, that any actress could have done much with role. Hunter is also good as the rival, but he's too one-dimensional.
The humor in the film really helps a lot, which is obvious at times, but underplayed so well. Gordon Harker (as Jack's trainer in his film debut) steals every scene he's in. Two sequences I liked were 1) in the beginning at the carnival when One Round battles the challenger, Gordon Harker would send the opponent off into the ring, turn around and get the guy's coat and have it waiting for the challenger who staggers back to his corner about 5 seconds after the fight starts and 2) when Bob gets into the ring with Jack, a beaten up "1" card goes into a slot to indicate the round and when it goes to a second round, a seemingly never used "2" card is used. (Hitchcock told Francois Truffaut that he was proud of that touch even though it seemed it was underappreciated by the audience).
Besides humor, the young director does do some creative montages to indicate the passage of time (showing Jack's climb towards the title with poster marquees over a variety of seasons) as well as a set of champagne filled glasses going flat when Jack waits for Mabel to return home. The boxing scenes are done well, but it isn't like watching Rocky or Raging Bull. (I found it funny that the male audience for the final fight are clad in formal evening wear and the referee - played by Eugene Corri, one of the first boxing referees to officiate from inside the ring - is wearing a tux.) One scene during the final fight I found creative is that (not spoiling anything here) when Jack is knocked down, instead of Hitchcock focusing on him shaking it off and slowly getting up, he focuses on one member of the crowd who puts on his coat expecting that the fight is over, but peers over his shoulder to see Jack rise and then takes off his jacket and goes back to cheering his head off.
Despite the imagination used by Hitchcock in the film, The Ring didn't do so well with audiences (especially compared with the Lodger). Critics did appreciate at the time of its release and has grown with contemporary reviews. Truffaut told Hitchcock that he had viewed it several times and Hitchcock did feel that it was his "second" true Hitchcock film (this after talking about Downhill and Easy Virtue). I feel that when compared with other romantic dramas of the 20's, it holds up very well due Hitchcock being at the helm and it is one of his more underappreciated efforts that's worth another look.
The movie was restored in 2012 by the British Film Institute in an effort to preserve Hitchcock's surviving silents. In this restoration, an alternate print used for foreign distribution was used to maximize the film's running time and is featured on Kino Lorber's 5 picture set that was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in December 2019, which can be purchased here.
Friday, January 10, 2020
3. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
Alfred Hitchcock launched himself on the film making map with this adaptation of Marie Belloc Lowndes' 1913 novel. The film became the most successful British film up until that point and became as Hitchcock later told Francois Truffaut, the first real Hitchcock film. The idea of an innocent man on the run from the police was used by Hitchcock for the first time here became the theme of many of his future films such as The 39 Steps, Saboteur and North by Northwest.
The plot opens with another strangulation of a blonde by a killer calling himself the Avenger, All of London is on alert reaching all of the way to the Bunting household. Falling of hard times, the Buntings open the upper rooms to let, which are taken by a mysterious & eccentric man (Ivor Novello) looking for a quiet place to work on his experiments. He has strange habits and goes out in late hours which worry the Buntings but not their daughter Daisy (June Tripp) a model and dancer in a local theater. Daisy and the lodger see a lot of each other which upsets Daisy's sweetheart Joe Chandler (Malcolm Keene), a policeman assigned to the Avenger case. More murders occur and the Buntings start to suspect their tenant is the killer. Joe, after catching the lodger with Daisy, also has the same suspicions and goes to search his rooms. The lodger says that he isn't the Avenger but trying to find the killer since his sister was an Avenger victim. Joe arrests him anyways but the lodger escapes only to find himself the ire of an angry mob.
Lowndes novel was inspired by Jack the Ripper but set in contemporary times, as is the movie. While the focus of the book revolves mostly around Mrs. Bunting, Hitchcock makes the lodger and Daisy the main focus in the movie (The Lodger - called Mr. Sleuth in the book - and Daisy have only a couple of interactions in the book). Ivor Novello (who achieved greater fame as a songwriter and playwright) was a popular actor at the time of the filming and producer Michael Balcon insisted that Novello could not be the killer, even if by ambiguity, much to Hitchcock's displeasure. Producers also wanted a couple of edits made as well as the elimination of several intertitle cards. The film was nearly shelved before these edits which probably have ended Hitchcock's directing career.
Working in Germany with his past two films, one can obviously see the German Expressionism used by Murnau and Lang, especially when the film's second murder occurs and watching Mrs. Bunting being uneasy with her tenant gone. Another artistic touch occurs early in the film when Joe and the Buntings hear the footsteps of the Lodger upstairs and we see him pace back and forth via a glass ceiling.
Novello does give a very good turn in the title role, working with Hitchcock to become very sinister and strange, but warming up to the audience as the film goes on. Tripp (technically the first Hitchcock blonde) seems to have only two expressions on her face (apprehension and love) and doesn't do well here. Keene is decent but he just doesn't fit the role of the rejected suitor. Marie Ault & Arthur Chesney do well as the Buntings, but I really think that they could have had their roles expanded.
I do feel the film shows a lot of promise of what's to come from the director, but at times it does feel a bit too artsy in dealing with the subject matter. The film was remade in 1933 with Novello reprising his role, but Hitchcock declined to remake his film. The 1933 film (called The Lodger in the UK, but retitled The Phantom Fiend in the US) is definitely weaker thanks to terrible sound recording, little suspense and a cliche ending (but Elizabeth Allan gives a better performance as Daisy). In 1944, Twentieth Century Fox made their version set in time of Jack the Ripper (and using his name) with Laird Cregar giving a memorable performance in the title role which is considered by some to be a superior version that Hitchcock's. I have not seen the 1953 reworking Man in the Attic with Jack Palance nor the 2009 version.
Alfred Hitchcock makes his first cameo appearance in the film about 5 minutes in as a newspaper editor, after the original extra for the role didn't show up. He also appears at towards the end of the film as an extra in the mob scene at the gate.
The film has been released by Criterion on Blu-Ray and DVD, and is currently on the Criterion Channel as well as several public domain prints (a copy of the Blu-Ray and DVD can be purchased here). Lowndes' novel can be purchased here.
Monday, January 6, 2020
2. The Mountain Eagle (1926)

Hitchcock's second directorial effort, The Mountain Eagle (a British-German production) unfortunately is lost to the ravages of time. According to the Library of Congress, approximately 75% of silent films are lost forever from across the globe. The reasons for this are numerous. The main one would be that nitrate film stock used for 35mm prints was highly flammable and could spontaneously combust (a vault fire in 1935 at Fox studios destroyed practically everything in stock and a fire at MGM's vault in 1967 destroyed many silent and early talkies). The market value of many silents for reissuing diminished once sound came into the picture and many studios junked films they felt had no value. Adding to this would that the silver in the nitrate stock could be extracted so that the studios would get some salvage value from the discarded films.
While we can't exactly say why The Mountain Eagle is missing, it is known that it had only a screening for the press in 1926 and was only issued in theaters once Hitchcock's next film, The Lodger was a hit. (Hitchcock's previous film The Pleasure Garden also got the same reissue). Along with his previous film, The Mountain Eagle featured an international cast with American Nita Naldi (best known from 1923's The Ten Commandments), Brit Malcolm Keene (who would later work with Hitchcock in The Lodger and The Manxman) and German Bernard Goetzke. Despite that appeal, the film was a commercial failure and only had a small release.
The plot (according to contemporary reviews) concerns Beatrice (Naldi) who is courted but later shunned by the Justice of the Peace Pettigrew (Goetzke) and is later forced from the town when he accuses her of romancing his disabled son. She is rescued by the recluse "Fear o' God" (Keene) who Beatrice falls for. When Pettigrew's son disappears, the villain accuses "Fear o' God" of the abduction and sentences him to a year in jail despite no evidence. When the mountain man escapes, he sets off to find a doctor to care for his newborn son, but has a showdown with Pettigrew.
A critic for Bioscope praised Hitchcock's direction, as did another from Kinematograph Weekly, but both faulted the script as being to unimaginative and unrealistic. Hitchcock later told director Francois Truffaut that the film was terrible and wasn't sorry for its loss. Approximately 30 stills from the movie have been found along with a lobby card, but no assessment can accurately be given until the film is found.
(The synopsis was taken from Paul Duncan's book Alfred Hitchock. The Complete Films which can be purchased here)
Saturday, January 4, 2020
1. The Pleasure Garden (1925)

The plot concerns two dancers at the Pleasure Garden theater in London, Patsy (Virginia Valli) and Jill (Carmelita Geraghty) who share their trials and tribulations while trying to achieve happiness (Patsy's goal) and fame (Jill's reason for existing). Jill gains fame and male admiration (which complicates her relationship with her fiance Hugh (John Stuart)). Patsy falls for Hugh's partner at his tropical plantation Levet (Miles Mander, who makes you wonder what Patsy was thinking). Levet has to leave Patsy to return to the plantation, and to the waiting arms of his native lover. When Levet doesn't write, Patsy goes to him believing he's sick, only to find him drunk and enamored with the Polynesian lady friend. Levet kills his lover and then goes after Patsy when he thinks she's falling for the sick Hugh (jilted by Jill for a Russian prince). Levet nearly kills her, but Hugh sent police protection for Patsy and Levet dies before he can commit the deed, leaving Patsy and Hugh free to be married. A more detailed version of the plot is here it is courtesy of Wikipedia.
The copy floating around on Youtube runs slightly over 60 minutes In 2012 the British Film Institute (BFI) restored this (as well as all the other existing Hitchcock silents) to 80 minutes. As of the beginning of 2020, the restored BFI print has not been released on DVD/Blu-Ray or on a US streaming service (hint, hint Criterion or Kino). So not having a quarter of the film to judge does alter a definitive opinion for the movie.
The first thing would be that The Pleasure Garden is not exactly what I would think of when someone would ask me to talk about a Hitchcock film. The plot just feels too melodramatic (I have not read the original source novel but it is available on archive.org) and obviously lacks the suspense and craftiness seen by Hitchcock in his more renowned movies. However, in his directorial debut, one can not miss the touches of a master getting his feet wet.
Humor, one element found in many Hitchcock films (and often very subtle), makes it mark here. In the first few minutes we have a line of chorus girls followed by a shot of the male members of the audiences with happiness in the faces, while one we can see is having blurry vision, but then takes out his binoculars and his joy is evident. Obviously, the two female leads are what the film revolves around, but I think Hitch made a mistake in casting two brunettes providing not much contrast between the two. One great scene that Hitchcock would duplicate either visually or with sound occurs when Patsy waves goodbye to Levet and the shot of her waving her handkerchief dissolves into the similar cloth the native girl is waving to welcome Levet. While not completely original in 1925, it does provide an excellent bridge between scenes that a clever filmmaker would use.
The film's producer, Michael Balcon, told Hitchcock that the Pleasure Garden looked more like an American picture rather than a continental one. I feel this is true, but at best it's probably only an average film only shown because of it being Hitchcock's debut. Once again, I can only assume the missing 20 minutes might give more character detail and a more cohesive plot, but still I think its only oridnary to begin with.
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