Hitchcock expressed one of his favorite themes in this silent film made when he was just 28, that of the wrongly accused man. In a Kafkaesque nightmare, an affluent college kid with everything going for him is accused of getting a waitress pregnant when it was really his friend, and without any form of due process from the headmaster, is expelled. Things continue to go downhill when his father doesn't believe he's innocent and calls him a liar to his face, prompting him to leave home.
There is some real darkness here, and one of the highlights of the film is in how we see this through the man's eyes. Those who judge him stare sternly at him, those he meets who take advantage of him (including an actress he marries) mock him mirthfully, and those he meets in run-down places stare at him with pathos in their eyes. Hitchcock really pulls emotion out of these scenes, without of course the benefit of audio. He also includes flashbacks, a nightmare, and a delirium scene as the man begins falling apart, and I loved the camerawork throughout the film - both the stationary wide shots which showed fantastic framing, and those trying to convey the man's state of mind.
On the downside, the film suffers a little from slow pace, at least by today's standards. It's also not especially kind to women, with the man ruined in stages by the waitress who plays around, his wife who kept the lover she had before getting married, and by a woman who takes a cut from the money he gets dancing (and possibly sleeping with) older women. It plays with tired old themes of evil women bringing a virtuous man down. I have to say, the ending felt a bit off as well, and inconsistent with the tone of everything that came before it.
With that said, each part of this story was executed well, and could stand alone as chapters in a book or acts in a play. I liked how Hitchcock played with the sexual elements of the story as well. The waitress kisses the man's friend, invites him back after hours by coyly gesturing towards a sign, and Hitchcock then shows a brief shot of the door with a 'closed' sign on it, where presumably they're inside having sex. It's subtle and yet also feels daring for the period. Ivor Novello did a fine job with the evolution of the character, and in the nice bit of role reversal we see when he becomes a gigolo, he conveys the disgust for where he has fallen to in life well. Overall this is one you have to be patient with, but it's got enough good moments to make it worth seeing.
There is some real darkness here, and one of the highlights of the film is in how we see this through the man's eyes. Those who judge him stare sternly at him, those he meets who take advantage of him (including an actress he marries) mock him mirthfully, and those he meets in run-down places stare at him with pathos in their eyes. Hitchcock really pulls emotion out of these scenes, without of course the benefit of audio. He also includes flashbacks, a nightmare, and a delirium scene as the man begins falling apart, and I loved the camerawork throughout the film - both the stationary wide shots which showed fantastic framing, and those trying to convey the man's state of mind.
On the downside, the film suffers a little from slow pace, at least by today's standards. It's also not especially kind to women, with the man ruined in stages by the waitress who plays around, his wife who kept the lover she had before getting married, and by a woman who takes a cut from the money he gets dancing (and possibly sleeping with) older women. It plays with tired old themes of evil women bringing a virtuous man down. I have to say, the ending felt a bit off as well, and inconsistent with the tone of everything that came before it.
With that said, each part of this story was executed well, and could stand alone as chapters in a book or acts in a play. I liked how Hitchcock played with the sexual elements of the story as well. The waitress kisses the man's friend, invites him back after hours by coyly gesturing towards a sign, and Hitchcock then shows a brief shot of the door with a 'closed' sign on it, where presumably they're inside having sex. It's subtle and yet also feels daring for the period. Ivor Novello did a fine job with the evolution of the character, and in the nice bit of role reversal we see when he becomes a gigolo, he conveys the disgust for where he has fallen to in life well. Overall this is one you have to be patient with, but it's got enough good moments to make it worth seeing.