Downstairs (1932)

Downstairs is a 1932 MGM pre-code melodrama directed by Monta Bell. The setting is central Europe and while it’s never specified it’s fairly obvious that it’s Austria.

The household of the Baron von Burgen is celebrating the marriage of the much-respected butler Albert (Paul Lukas) to the Baroness’s charming ladies’ maid Anna (Virginia Bruce). The Baron is an indulgent master and it’s a happy household.

While the festivities are in full swing the new chauffeur Karl Schneider (John Gilbert) arrives. It will immediately be obvious to the audience that Karl is a bad ’un. Not just bad but sly, scheming and ruthless. And almost certainly a womaniser.

It’s also clear that Karl has taken an unhealthy interest in the naïve Anna.

Karl is obsessed with women but he’s obsessed with money as well and it’s not clear at this stage which of those obsessions takes top priority, although in all probability he hopes to get both. He’s a blackmailer rather than a thief. Being a thief requires too much courage and the truth is that Karl is a coward. His weakness is that he doesn’t just enjoy manipulating people, he enjoys flaunting his power over them and that attracts attention. It also makes enemies.

Albert is a bit of an innocent but he’s not a complete fool and he soon suspects that Karl has seduced Anna.

The easiest solution would be for Albert to fire Karl. As butler he’s in charge of the hiring and firing of the servants but it’s not that simple since Karl has a hold over the Baroness.

Tensions rise as Albert feels himself to be more and more publicly humiliated.

The final resolution is the sort of thing a movie would never get away with under the Production Code. What would really have landed this film in hot water once the Production Code arrived is Anna’s frank admission that while she’s sorry she cheated on Albert the sex with Karl was fabulous.

Virginia Bruce is excellent as the sweet but overly trusting Anna. Paul Lukas is good as the stiff-necked Albert.

The movie however belongs to John Gilbert. He’s deliciously slimy and while Karl is a full-blown melodrama villain Gilbert makes him believable.

John Gilbert had been a huge star in the latter part of the silent era. He was unable to make a successful transition to talkies and the reason for this has always been somewhat controversial. The story was put about that his voice was all wrong or that he had a weak voice. When you watch the talkies he did make it’s obvious that his voice was fine. He did have a serious falling out with Louis B. Mayer and it seems likely that Mayer deliberately wrecked Gilbert’s career.

He is so good in this film that one can’t help feeling that he deserved a much better fate than being tossed on the scrap heap. This is one of the all-time classic sleazebag cad performances.

It’s worth pointing out that this movie is based on a story idea by John Gilbert himself. This movie was important to him and he clearly hoped it would put him back on top. That didn’t happen. Critics hated the movie and the public apparently wouldn’t accept Gilbert (one of the great romantic leading men of the silent era) as an unsympathetic scoundrel.

In this case the critics and the public were both wrong. Downstairs is truly an excellent hard-hitting pre-code melodrama and it’s very highly recommended.

Downstairs is part of the four-movie Warner Archive Forbidden Hollywood Vol 6 set (along with the wonderful Mandalay) and it gets a very nice transfer.