Producer: Michael Balcon. A Gainsborough Production. U.S. release through Sono Art-World Wide (cut to 74 minutes). No recorded New York opening. U.K. release through Wardour Films. 80 minutes U.S. release title: WHEN BOYS LEAVE HOME.SYNOPSIS: Slatternly shop-girl alleges one of two college boys sexually assaulted her, when in actual fact she encouraged both of them.NOTES: The American version was considerably censored. The allegation of sexual assault was changed to theft (which makes no sense whatever. The reaction of the players and the vicious tirade launched by Miss Benson clearly indicate that a far more serious charge was involved).COMMENT: Although it meanders to a foregone yet disappointing conclusion, this is a most engrossing movie for three-quarters of its length. The opening scenes with that delightfully vicious floosie, Annette Benson, and the clerically coddled Robert Irvine, plus the middle episode in which our hero encounters spendthrift musical comedy star, Isabel Jeans, and her faithful yet otherwise comically rotten-to-the-core lover, Ian Hunter, come over as especially striking, despite the fact that Novello is obviously far too old for a college boy and his acting (particularly in comparison with the other players) overwrought. These scenes are also full of delightful Hitchcock touches, including a bit when our hero surreptitiously pockets the heroine's purse (which it turns out is a joke on the audience), rides a lonely Down escalator to the Underground, and gets drenched on top of a double-decker bus. Mr. Hunter does extremely well in a most difficult role. His Archie is a comic character, yet he's an object of derision (except oddly from Miss Jeans) and from an audience point-of-view, totally unsympathetic. Under Hitch's inspired direction, Hunter manages to juggle hisses and comic capers with amazing dexterity. Easily the best performance of his entire career!

This was Hitchcock's fourth film, after his first hit, THE LODGER, and with the same leading man, Ivor Novello. The latter was a very effective silent film actor, romantic and dashing (he resembled the young Fredric March). He takes direction well from Hitchcock, playing a man whose reckless "honor" sets him on the downward spiral of a vagabond existence.Hitchcock plays with camera angles and editing techniques that were innovative for the time. The use of the hand-held camera to denote visual unsteadiness, the montage of disturbing images to denote delirium, and a generous use of close-ups. It's the style here of a true artiste that is most impressive.Novello made 16 silents, two of which are lost. He proved himself quite a bad sound actor and only made six talkies. Film's loss was the theater's gain as he composed the music for and rote the librettos for 8 grand London operetta extravaganzas between 1939 and 1952, making a greater name for himself than his acting would have provided.This is one of Hitchcock's most impressive early films. The genius was there from the start.

This story is sort of like the parable of the Protigal Son with LOTS of changes--mainly, the son is a total idiot and the father actually is the one who is the judgmental jerk. It begins with a couple of college chums. One is rich and nice (in other words, a total patsy) and the other is poor and went to school on a scholarship. When the poor one does something stupid, the rich friend takes responsibility (why, we must only assume because he's an imbecile). When he's then thrown out of school, his father disowns him. Here is where it's more like the Protigal Son, as the young moron spends his new inheritance on drunken living among rich low-lifes and he proceeds to throw his life away--though, once again, we are unsure why. After all, with this inheritance he should have a lovely life even after having been thrown out of school (30000 Pounds was a HUGE sum of money in 1927). In the end, the young guy is a total physical and mental wreck when he somehow manages to struggle home.Even by the standards of the silent era, "Downhill" (also known as "When Boys Leave Home") is an incredibly old fashioned and overly moralistic sort of film--the sort you would never associate with Alfred Hitchcock. However, at this point in his career, there was no 'Hitchcock style' and he made a wide range of films--not just suspense and murder films. However, the story itself is so totally lacking that it really didn't give this fine director much with which to work. However, in his defense, at least he did an exceptional job when it came to the cinematography and the film had a wonderful artistry about it that sets it apart. In fact, it's so lovely that I still mildly recommend the film--even with the rather dumb plot.

My copy of this movie is truly silence with no musical score. Whenever I watch a movie that is completely silent, initially I find it a little hard. But when the film is well made, as this one is, it doesn't take long to adjust and focus on the story as you are drawn into it. I feel Hitchcock was a master of the silent film genre with his ability to tell such a deep story with very few intertitles. Relying instead on the expressions of the actors and written notes and signs in the movie, without having to cut away to an intertitle, which allows the film to flow more fluidly instead of constant cutting between the live action and the title cards. Ivor Novello in the lead role of Roddy and in his prior work with Hitchcock in The Lodger really impressed me with his talent of conveying his feelings strictly through facial expressions and acting without the use of sound. Hitch is also good at using subtle exaggeration and focus on action to help take the place of the sound in his silent films. The story is that of a young man in school who is falsely accused of theft by a lady that he had danced with and he is willing to take the blame for a friend of his and is expelled from school. This leads to the downhill spiral of his life as leaves home after his father calls him a "LIAR!". Things get worse from there as ends up working as a gigolo in Paris, getting in fights, losing a large sum of money, and eventually hitting bottom.In this film we really begin seeing a lot of Hitchcock's visual style that he is so famous for. He has some really good use of fades and graphic matches between scenes. Two of my favorite where the fading out on the pocket watch and into a large clock, and the other being the scene where he fades out on a photograph and then back in on the real person. I really enjoyed the symbolic shot of Roddy heading down the escalator, showing us that is in heading downhill in his life. And my favorite "Hitch" shot in this movie was the point-of-view shot when the lady was leaning back in her chair and it cuts to Roddy walking into the room and we see him upside down on the screen. I also thought Hitchcock did a great job of portraying Roddy's seasickness towards the end of the film. I really enjoy seeing Hitchcock's style developing in his early silent films, that will become so prominent in his later, more famous movies. I also really appreciate Hitch's working in comedic scenes into his serious movies. My favorite humorous scene in this movie is the peashooter scene early in the film.Without giving too much away, I would have liked to see a more typical Hitchcock ending to this film. *** (out of 4 stars)