[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

C'est la vie

Original title: Downhill
  • 1927
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 20m
IMDb RATING
6.0/10
3.4K
YOUR RATING
C'est la vie (1927)
AdventureDramaThriller

Bound by honor, a successful schoolboy takes the blame for his roommate's indiscretion, and it's all downhill from there.Bound by honor, a successful schoolboy takes the blame for his roommate's indiscretion, and it's all downhill from there.Bound by honor, a successful schoolboy takes the blame for his roommate's indiscretion, and it's all downhill from there.

  • Director
    • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Writers
    • Constance Collier
    • Ivor Novello
    • Eliot Stannard
  • Stars
    • Ivor Novello
    • Ben Webster
    • Norman McKinnel
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.0/10
    3.4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Alfred Hitchcock
    • Writers
      • Constance Collier
      • Ivor Novello
      • Eliot Stannard
    • Stars
      • Ivor Novello
      • Ben Webster
      • Norman McKinnel
    • 42User reviews
    • 39Critic reviews
    • 66Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos79

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster

    Top cast17

    Edit
    Ivor Novello
    Ivor Novello
    • Roddy Berwick
    Ben Webster
    Ben Webster
    • Dr. Dowson
    Norman McKinnel
    Norman McKinnel
    • Sir Thomas Berwick
    Robin Irvine
    Robin Irvine
    • Tim Wakeley
    Jerrold Robertshaw
    Jerrold Robertshaw
    • The Rev. Henry Wakeley
    Sybil Rhoda
    Sybil Rhoda
    • Sybil Wakeley
    Annette Benson
    Annette Benson
    • Mabel
    Lilian Braithwaite
    Lilian Braithwaite
    • Lady Berwick
    Isabel Jeans
    Isabel Jeans
    • Julia Fotheringale
    Ian Hunter
    Ian Hunter
    • Archie
    Hannah Jones
    Hannah Jones
    • Dresser
    Barbara Gott
    Barbara Gott
    • Madame Michet
    Violet Farebrother
    Violet Farebrother
    • Poetess
    Alf Goddard
    • Sailor
    Constance Collier
    Constance Collier
    • Dance Hall Lady with Purse
    • (uncredited)
    Daisy Jackson
    • The Seductive Waitress
    • (uncredited)
    J. Nelson
    • Hibbert
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Alfred Hitchcock
    • Writers
      • Constance Collier
      • Ivor Novello
      • Eliot Stannard
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews42

    6.03.3K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    6utgard14

    Good points and bad points

    Silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock about a wealthy young man named Roddy (Ivor Novello) who takes the blame for a friend's indiscretions with a tramp and finds his whole life unraveling because of it. Not entirely successful, with a yawner of an ending, but worth a look for Novello's performance and glimpses of Hitchcock's emerging style. Tenth-billed Ian Hunter plays a small role as an actor who helps rip Roddy off. The whole thing is filmed in sepia tone except for a section in green, the reason behind which is actually fairly clever. Watch and I'm sure you'll figure it out. It's a decent picture but it goes on too long. Lost my interest well before the disappointing ending. Still, give it a go and form your own opinion. Even a lesser Hitchcock film is worth seeing.
    8djhbooklover

    A fine Ivor Novello performance.

    I just watched this film which I purchased on Ebay. I am a fan of Ivor Novello primarily because of his operatic musicals of the thirties and forties. I saw The Lodger recently and was impressed with his performance, read a biography or two, enjoyed Jeremy Northam's portrayal in Gosford Park, and am hunting for other performances in the cinema. This movie is very well done and adds an interesting insight into Hitchcock's early career. The quality of the acting, photography, use of symbolism are undeniable. I thought the impression that women are a bit dangerous was a major point but at least his mother cared about him although she didn't seem to resist his father's impulsive banishment. This is a film which held my interest throughout and I highly recommend it.
    drednm

    Ivor Novello Suffers

    I watched Alfred Hitchcock's DOWNHILL (1927) starring Ivor Novello. I thought this was a fascinating film although it's not very well regarded.

    Novello plays a wealthy Oxford student who stupidly takes the blame after a vindictive waitress points him out (his father is rich) as her seducer. The real seducer is his friend, but he takes the blame, assuming it will all blow over. But he gets expelled and sent home where his father pitches a fit and calls him a liar. Novello storms out of the house.

    Cast into the cruel world, Novello must find his own way. In a brilliant sequence, following an intertitle that announces "make believe" we see a well dressed Novello holding a cup of coffee, but as the camera pulls back we see that he is holding a tray and serving coffee to a flashy couple (Isabel Jeans, Ian Hunter). Well at least he has a job! But then as the couple heads to the dance floor the camera pulls back again and we suddenly realize that, as the couple starts dancing, they are on a stage. The audience comes into view and a line of high-kicking dancers races out onto the stage.

    Jeans turns out to be a selfish woman involved with Hunter. There is never enough money. Novello becomes a hanger-on until he receives a telegram with news about an inheritance. Jeans quickly marries Novello and starts spending freely. Time passes. Jeans and Hunter are sitting in a lavish bedroom. She's endlessly sitting at dressing tables, admiring herself and her jewels. Novello comes home and find a pile of bills, an overdrawn notice from the bank, and Hunter in the closet. The apartment is in her name and he's thrown out into the cruel world.

    Next we find Novello as a taxi dancer in Paris. He seems to have a "manager" who sells his dances and possibly more. While he dances we see a middle-aged age woman (Violet Farebrother) sitting at a table. She can't take her eyes off him. She arranges for an introduction. He babbles away, telling her his sad story while her eyes frankly devour him. Amazing sequence. But as morning dawns and the blinds are raised, Novello finally see this tawdry world of drunks and dissolutes and once again goes out into the cruel world to Marseilles.

    Sick and broke, Novello is saved by a pair of sailors and put on a ship back to England after they find a returned letter. Do they think there will be a reward? During the voyage, Novello hallucinates and relives his past accounts with all the horrid women in his life. This is a beautifully done scene. Finally he arrives home.

    I cannot think of another film from this era where the male is the societal victim and who, through nobility, suffers as he descends to the depths at the hands of women. Novello is actually playing a twist on the many Ruth Chatterton roles where she follows this sort of journey to find redemption and/or death. Along with The Lodger, this may be Ivor Novello's best film performance.

    As for Hitchcock, there are many great scenes here and lots of symbolism as Novellos is seen on escalators and elevators going down, down, DOWN.
    6SendiTolver

    You Better Come Up Again.

    'Downhill' is visually inventive and astonishing, but the story is nothing more than simple flat melodrama. Script is based on the play "Down Hill" written by Constance Collier and the film's star Ivor Novello. Roddy Berwick (Ivor Novello) and Tim Wakely (Robin Irvine) are best buddies attending expensive private school. Soon after both boys spend an evening with waitress (Annette Benson), she comes forward and says she's pregnant. She accuses Roddy, who comes from the rich family, being the father, while the real one is Tim. Roddy promises to keep his mouth to protect Tim, who might lose his scholarship. Roddy gets expelled from school, and thrown out at home by his father. Roddy falls deeper and deeper after being used by different people. Hitchcock fantastically depicts Roddy's descent after each dramatic episode with showing Novello's character going down on stairs, on escalators and with elevator.

    Not the Hitchcock's best movie - directing is marvelous, but the story is just too simple and predictable. On the other hand, it is very easy to care about the main character and despise the cruel people who but other persons through unfair grind (even when things happen thanks to Roddy's own naivety).

    P.S. At that time (in August, 2018) the film's theme is still relative.
    5TheLittleSongbird

    Technically superb, narratively creaky

    As a huge Hitchcock fan, Downhill was an interesting film but while not among his weakest it is a long way from being among his best. The acting is not bad at all, in fact decent(likewise with the chemistry between them), Ivor Novello's performance is expressive and moving if not always subtle, Isabel Jeans is a sympathetic Julia and Annette Benson makes Mabel's scheming believable. Ian Hunter is also very naturalistic in his role. The production values and Hitchcock's direction are Downhill's best qualities, both are superb. The film is really beautifully shot, some of the best and most ahead-of-its-time photography of any of Hitchcock's silent films. The choice of locations are appropriate and well-utilised, particularly with the scenes set in the nightclub and theatre. The hand-held camera shots signifying Roddy's delirium, the slow pan shot during the dance in the Parisian hall scene and the long pulling-back shot with us thinking that Roddy is dressing for a fancy night, then us thinking that he is waiter and then we realise that he is on the stage stand out as being especially good technically. Hitchcock wasn't yet in his comfort zone, but his direction not only shows technical skill but also early in his career being able to show the psychological insight that he was often so good at. As well as enhancing the mood. From a narrative standpoint unfortunately Downhill falls far short in comparison, for all how strong his visuals and direction are Hitchcock apparently had little interest in the story and it comes through loud and clear. The story creaks that wooden floorboards in a deserted house, makes very little sense and does drag quite badly at times. The characters are not very interesting and often one-sided which, especially with the female characters, may leave a sour taste in the mouth. The script touches on the social hypocrisy and the separation of classes- morally mostly- but to me it does very little with those themes and while interesting for when and where Downhill was set it doesn't hold up well today. On the whole, a mixed view here, loved it technically, didn't care for it narratively. 5/10 Bethany Cox

    More like this

    Le ring
    6.1
    Le ring
    Le passé ne meurt pas
    5.4
    Le passé ne meurt pas
    Laquelle des trois?
    5.8
    Laquelle des trois?
    Le jardin du plaisir
    5.8
    Le jardin du plaisir
    L'homme de l'île de Man
    6.2
    L'homme de l'île de Man
    À l'américaine
    5.4
    À l'américaine
    Les cheveux d'or
    7.3
    Les cheveux d'or
    Meurtre
    6.3
    Meurtre
    The Skin Game
    5.7
    The Skin Game
    À l'est de Shanghaï
    5.7
    À l'est de Shanghaï
    Mary
    5.7
    Mary
    Chantage
    6.9
    Chantage

    Related interests

    Still frame
    Adventure
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The £30,000 Roddy inherits would have equated to about $143,000 at the time (in 1927), and that amount equals over $2.5M in 2023.
    • Goofs
      When Roddy and the girl are dancing in the candy shop, a gramophone record of a tune called "I Want Money" is shown. It's on the old "WINNER" label. In a flashback, it's playing again on the record player, but in a further flashback, in a montage, the record has become a "His Master's Voice" disc.
    • Quotes

      [first title card]

      Title Card: Here is a tale of two school-boys who made a pact of loyalty. One of them kept it - at a price.

    • Connections
      Featured in Shepperton Babylon (2005)
    • Soundtracks
      I Want Some Money
      Words by Herbert Rule & Fred Holt.

      Music by L. Silberman.

      Played on the gramophone machine by Mabel; even though Downhill is a silent film, the accompanying music would have referenced this song as it underscores elements of the plot.

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ16

    • How long is Downhill?Powered by Alexa
    • Is this film in the public domain?
    • Every copy I've seen has been terrible. Which is the best version to buy?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 26, 1929 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Downhill
    • Filming locations
      • Maida Vale Underground Station, Maida Vale, London, England, UK
    • Production company
      • Gainsborough Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $158
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 20m(80 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.