acsdoug D
This movie turned out to be much better than I expected. John Gilbert is wonderfully despicable as a philandering blackmailer, the kind of character that would be unthinkable with the enactment of the Hays Code a couple of years later. Gilbert had real talent, it's a shame he was his own worst enemy and died so young.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
05/09/23
Full Review
Ken R
Highly talented veteran Director of Photography Harold Rosson (Wizard Of Oz/ Singin' In The Rain) and Director Montana Bell give this early 30s drama a high degree of polish. With a story written by its silent screen mega-star, John Gilbert, Downstairs tells the tale of an opportunistic gigolo who connives his way into the lives of his employers as a chauffeur, with dishonourable intentions. This is a surprising change of persona from the heroic, debonair lover Gilbert was famous for and he plays his rather vile character with conviction.
Not only does it all look good it's well played by an impressive international cast - giving it an above-average believability. This was bought as part of a ‘Forbidden Hollywood' pre-code DVD 4 pack and turned out to be better than the title purchased for. Seems MGMs boss (Louis B) did not care for it or its star, so it looks like it was glossed over – pity, as it was better than many others of its day. Many up and coming stars can also be seen in this rarity, and the archive DVD is quite pleasing.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
07/04/20
Full Review
Audience Member
This is a triumph for John Gilbert, one of the leading men heart throbs of the 1920s silent movie era. Contrary to innuendo and gossip, there was nothing wrong with Gilbert's voice, as he so deftly proves here.
Because he wrote the screenplay, he saved the juicier role for himself, but the public may not want to have associated their "golden boy" of the silent era with this John Gilbert. Who Knows? Suffice it to say, at the time, "Downstairs" did not equal Gilbert's successes in the decade previous, although as time progresses people can see his raw talent and the ability he had to connect with audiences. He was to go on to star in "Queen Christina" before his early death.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
Full Review
Audience Member
"If we criticize--I mean downstairs--we are no longer servants. We have broken our code. You know, as servants, we don't produce a living, it's done for us. As long as we are able we serve them as well as we can. But if we are old, or sick, we are taken care of." "And if they go wrong, we just close our eyes to it, huh?" "You don't have to listen unless you want to stay here.... When they go wrong! What right do we have to say whether they are right or wrong! If a servant is out of order, yes, I understand that. Life downstairs is very simple. But up there, the rules are different. And I have no contact but service, and no feeling but deep loyalty, and affection."
"Now you just wait a minute. I don't deserve to have you and me go out a smash. I found out for the first time in my life--for the first time!--that there are more than two kinds of feelings in the world. Is that my fault? 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. Are you gonna throw me out in the street because I never knew this before?" "Now you stop this kind of talk! And stop it right now! You learned something vile, from a rat. And you forget that you're my wife, that I love you, and you bring him in here." "All right. You good, good man. I'll stop this kind of talk. You believe exactly what you want to believe. But you listen. Whatever's happened, some of it's your fault! Some of it. You think you can make love in the same frozen wary you do everything else, and you think that's all I should have any wish for. Well I tell you plain and straight right now, it's nothing of the kind. I meant no harm. I don't want anything but you in my home. But if you're gonna be so good and so perfect and so unforgiving, that I can't have that, then I thank heaven I found there is something else, something that makes you so dizzy you don't know what's happened and you don't care. Now you go ahead and believe anything you like!"
It's almost a story of the undoing of a very dutiful butler--and it would have been better if it had been. But instead, the trouble-making, declassed/lumpen chauffeur (the illegitimate son of an aristocrat and a servant) gets what he deserves (sort of), and the old order is restored. Anyway, it's a more truthful though less charming account of servants and aristocrats (in Austria) than that typically provided by Lubitsch.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
john gilbert stars in and also wrote the story
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
Full Review
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