365 Days. 365 Films.

Downhill is another early silent film by Alfred Hitchcock that also goes by the name of When Boys Leave Home. The story is about a boy who is expelled from his school after being wrongly accused of stealing and when his father finds out, he is so disappointed and furious that he banishes him from their household. While trying to find his way again with a less than perfect education, he finds that he has a lot of misfortune.

My comments about this film are fairly similar to those about Champagne which I also reviewed in this blog. In my opinion, silent films should star Charlie Chaplin and no one else, because silent movies are not quite so entertaining without slapstick comedy – as only this works just as well without sound. However, because it’s Hitchcock and because I needed to watch something for this blog, I watched it and, as far as silent films go, I really enjoyed it.

The film is easy to follow and there isn’t really much to the plot – this was clearly a time when audiences were grateful for a storytelling medium and didn’t demand huge special effects and plot twists. It’s simply a story about a boy. The direction, on the other hand, is quite clearly innovative when you look at other silent movies. It becomes quite fascinating to watch because of Hitchcock’s use of cinematography, but as with a lot of silent films, it’s not something you watch for pleasure; you watch it to educate yourself about film and it’s techniques.