Downstairs

"Downstairs" features a great cast (John Gilbert, Virginia Bruce, Paul Lukas) and many memorable, tension-filled scenes. Its plot is a strange combination of old-fashioned class-conflict melodrama (servants' lives compared to the aristocracy's) and sexual satire. I think it has held up well for its age, undoubtedly because it was a pre-code movie and could deal with subjects which only two years later were taboo.

This film and The Big Parade are my two favorite John Gilbert films. He was an under-rated actor, very attractive, polished, but with a sharp edge of naughtiness. His voice was quite pleasant and intriguing, only slightly nasal, but you rarely notice that. He obviously had training to lower his voice and make it more cultured, just like all the actors did who crossed over from silents to talkies. However his battles with Louis B and his declining health limited his roles soon after Downstairs to B pictures.

The most dramatic scene in the film however belongs not to John Gilbert, but to Virginia Bruce, whom I must confess is not a favorite of mine. After being seduced by John Gilbert's character she boldly and passionately tells her husband (Lukas) off and insults his lovemaking in comparison. Wow-sa for 1932! No wonder TCM showcased this scene in the pre-code movies special a few months back. However the TCM special didn't lay the foundation for the scene, because if we had it we would have naturally sympathized with the husband much more than the seducer or the wife!

Watch Downstairs if you enjoy the saucy John Gilbert or if you like pre-code movies. You'll enjoy it.

Downstairs (1932)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Brutally honest and at times shocking Pre-Code about a chauffeur (John Gilbert) who gets one job after another only to blackmail both the rich as well as the poor servants. His latest job has him falling for a married woman (Virginia Bruce) who just happens to be married to the main servant (Paul Lukas). The con man begins to dig up dirt on the rich folks in the house so that he can swindle them and take off with the beautiful wife. Soon everyone in the house is being held hostage by the gossip and rumors started by the man. It's well known that Gilbert wrote the story to this thing and sold it to MGM for a single dollar so that they'd agree to make it. I've seen hundreds, if not thousands, of movies from this era and I must say that this here is without question one of the most unique, strange and downright bizarre of them all. While watching the movie it keeps you off guard as you never really know where it's going to go next but there's no question that it has one surprise after another and the story itself is brave enough to go in many directions no matter what the outcome. One example of this is an elderly cook who has pretty much given her life as a servant and managed to save up a lot of money, which of course Gilbert goes after. The Pre-Code material goes as far as having Gilbert seduce her and then verbally abuse her in such a way that you can't help but feel incredibly bad but at the same time shocked. What's even more shocking is that Gilbert allows his character to be even darker and meaner. There's no question that Gilbert's "power" was on its way down but it still took quite a bit of guts for someone of his stature to play a role like this. His performance here is incredibly good because he's so cold during the bad parts yet he's also so charming and warm during the scenes where he's taking advantage of people. One can't help but think this is exactly how this type of person would be and Gilbert nails it without any troubles. The performance is certainly the best I've seen from him and I'd say it's one of the most memorable villains from this era of Hollywood. Gilbert's then wife Bruce is terrific here as well as her abused character is so full and rich in detail that you can't help but feel as if you know her and feel the pain she's going through as she has to fight off the abuse from Gilbert but also the abuse she feels from her husband. Lukas is magnificent as the husband who has a strange loyalty to his employers who he feels more for than his actual wife. Bodil Rosing is terrific as the elderly woman who gets taken advantage of. I think a lot of people, even those familiar with Pre-Codes, will be shocked at how raw this movie is. The final fifteen-minutes contain some intense drama and an outrageous scenario but it works so incredibly well that you can't help but really respect the film. The movie is very adult in nature and the marvelous performances makes this a must-see for any film fan.

The reputation for this part of his career notwithstanding, this is another good John Gilbert talkie, and it's appropriately situated between the decent 'West of Broadway' from 1931, and the great 'Queen Christina' from 1933. Here he plays a manipulative and morally bereft chauffeur who has just been hired on the day when the head butler (Paul Lukas), a loyal and proper servant, is marrying a maid (Virginia Bruce). He wastes no time in brazenly kissing her on the lips in congratulations, but soon we'll see that he can also be much slyer than that. He uses information to his advantage, plays on emotions, and treats people badly when he can get away with it, always speaking in a refined way.

Whatever we think of Gilbert's character, and he certainly is a dastardly rogue, we have to admit that he must be devilishly good in bed. We can imagine him kissing the back of Virginia Bruce's neck when he talks about a mole there where she must like it, and also what he's referring to when he suggests her husband's sideburns must tickle her (gee, where that might happen?). After he successfully seduces her into sleeping with him when her husband's away, it's clear she's seen a whole new world. "There's a kind of way of making love that drives you mad and crazy, so that you don't know what you're doing," she says passionately to her husband in Bruce's best scene, later adding "You think you can make love in the same frozen way you do everything else," and "I thank heaven I found that there is something else. Something that makes you so dizzy you don't know what's happened and you don't care!" Wow! And it's fascinating to consider that Gilbert himself wrote the script, given the torrid affairs in his own love life.

The film being pre-Code allows for this and the other references to sex, including the lady of the house (Olga Baclanova) being taken to a secret tryst in the city, and Gilbert's character using and abusing the middle-aged cook (Bodil Rosing). Part of the seduction of the latter is having her wipe flour off his backside while he lays across a table and smiles at her, which was pretty funny. Just as importantly, being pre-Code allows for us to not have a clue how the film is going to end, and without spoiling it, I'll just say that it's uncompromised and a good one.

There are two dimensions of hierarchy in the film, one being masters and servants, and the other men and women. As to the first, it's a little nauseating when Lukas says as part of a speech revering those upstairs "You know, as servants we don't produce a living. It's done for us," and "Life downstairs is very simple, but up there, the rules are different." However, the film is effective in satirizing how uncaring, vapid, and hypocritical those "upstairs" really are, and we see that they are certainly not on some higher plane of existence.

Unfortunately, it's less successful relative to the women. It's not so much that they all fall under Gilbert's control one way or another, because it's believable that a master manipulator do that, even if some of Bruce's actions are a tinge surprising. Overall the film seems to have a paternalistic attitude, such as when she sighs and says "If I were a man, I'd just want to keep on traveling and traveling," or when Baclanova says "Women sometimes do foolish things, just for lack of understanding." Hats off to Bruce being sexually awakened and henceforth looking for more satisfaction in the sack, but these other bits aren't very liberated.

Overall though, a fine pre-Code vehicle for Gilbert and Bruce, who would marry in real life just four days after the film was released. It's such a shame that his health and personal life were spiraling towards doom, and that his reputation was so unfairly tarnished along the way.

"Downstairs" opens with the wedding of servants Albert (Paul Lukas) and his new wife Anna (Virginia Bruce). The story was written by, and stars, John Gilbert as Karl Schneider, the chauffeur who never stays at one place too long. We learn at the wedding that he had been previously employed by "the Countess" (Hedda Hopper, in a small part). Throw in Reginald Owen as "the Baron" and you've got a story about the class differences, love, deceit, and intrigue, similar to the British series "Upstairs, Downstairs". Karl, the chauffeur, starts out as a suave, charming guy, but we quickly learn he isn't such a nice guy. There's also an interesting mix of accents here. Paul Lukas and "the Baroness" (Olga Baclanova) both have strong Hungarian accents. Reginald Owen is quite British, and both Gilbert and Bruce have pretty plain, flat American accents. Good story, good acting. Funny scene with Francoise, the drunk servant. Too bad Gilbert died so young - it all seemed to go downhill when he was dumped by Greta Garbo.

John Gilbert was known primarily as a silent film idol, and his career faded with the talkies, but this film shows it certainly wasn't for lack of talent. Or guts.

Gilbert – who also wrote the story - takes on the role of an irredeemable, if charming manipulator and rouge in this pre-code film. Hired on as the chauffeur in a wealthy house, he's quickly seducing, manipulating, and blackmailing his way through both the servants downstairs, and even the wealthy owners upstairs.

While many of the supporting performers can't keep up with Gilbert, and the plot is pretty heavily melodramatic, it is striking to see the honesty (and forgiveness on a human level) with which this film handles adultery and sexuality. Indeed, this feels more sophisticated than many movies of today in that regard.

It also has a wonderfully uncompromised ending, which again, would probably be stripped from the film in today's test score driven marketplace. Not a great film, but a fun one that's well worth seeing.