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Drama

Downhill

Year
1927
Length
105 minBFI National Archive restoration presentation Version sources ↓

A privileged schoolboy accepts blame for a friend, is expelled and disowned, then descends through increasingly unstable social roles.

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BleakStrange Approachable · Moderate Drama
Black trouser legs and polished shoes step along a sloping green shape below the title.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

Hitchcock converts disgrace into spatial and psychological movement: stairs, escalators, theatrical performance, travel, and delirium make a literal downward path visually inventive.

How to ease in

The morality is dated and severe. Follow Roddy’s changing environments rather than expecting subtle psychology; the visual transitions often say more than the social assumptions around them.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes misogyny, class prejudice, sexual double standards, illness, exploitation, family rejection, and psychological distress.
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The title announces the direction, yet the film keeps finding a new mechanism for descent. I watch the spaces change around Roddy before he can understand what each new role is costing him.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Version map

BFI National Archive restoration presentation 105 min 105 minutes is attached only to the named BFI National Archive restoration presentation. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred. Source: British Film Institute — Downhill Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-21

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