Downstairs (film)

Downstairs
Directed by	Monta Bell
Produced by	Monta Bell
Written by	John Gilbert (story) Lenore J. Coffee Melville Baker
Starring	John Gilbert Paul Lukas Virginia Bruce
Studio	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Monta Bell
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	August 6, 1932
Running time	77 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Downstairs is a 1932 dramatic film.^[1][2] It stars John Gilbert as a charming but self-serving chauffeur who wreaks havoc on his new employer's household, romancing and fleecing the women on the staff, and blackmailing the employer's wife. Gilbert had written the story in 1928 for a proposed silent film that was never made. Producer Irving Thalberg revived the project in 1932 as a special Gilbert production. The actor was so jubilant about the opportunity that he sold his original story to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $1.^[3]

Cast (in credits order)

• John Gilbert as Karl Schneider, the chauffeur
• Paul Lukas as Albert, the Baron's butler
• Virginia Bruce as Anna, Albert's wife
• Hedda Hopper as Countess De Marnac
• Reginald Owen as Baron "Nicky" Von Burgen
• Olga Baclanova as Baroness Eloise Von Burgen
• Bodil Rosing as Sophie, the Cook
• Otto Hoffman as Otto, the Wine Cellar Caretaker
• Lucien Littlefield as Francoise, a Drunken Servant
• Marion Lessing as Antoinette, Maid to the Countess

References

1. ^ Variety film review; October 11, 1932, page 20.
2. ^ Harrison's Reports film review; October 15, 1932, page 167.
3. ^ Mordaunt Hall (October 8, 1932). "Downstairs (1932)". New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940CE1DA1131E333A2575BC0A9669D946394D6CF. 

External links

• Downstairs at the Internet Movie Database
• Downstairs at the TCM Movie Database
• Downstairs at AllRovi