Of Human Bondage

Of Human Bondage DVD

John Cromwell THE PRISONER OF ZENDA THE GODDESS brings W. Somerset Maugham's novel and Bette Davis's career to life with the spellbinding drama OF HUMAN BONDAGE. Having unsuccessfully tried his hand at painting in Paris Philip Carey Leslie Howard returns home to London. Despite his clubfoot Philip overcomes his awkwardness and pursues a medical career. Still in medical school he becomes obsessed with a gruff Cockney waitress Mildred Rogers Davis intent on taking him for all he is worth. When Carey discovers that she is dating other men he attempts to forget her by striking up a relationship with another woman. The effort fails when Mildred returns to tell Carey she is pregnant. Mildred repeatedly leaves Carey in distress but returns to him when she needs money. Eventually his devotion to her threatens his career ambitions and his chance for future happiness. Davis is spectacular as the repulsive Mildred while Howard's quiet suffering gentleman furthered his own reputation as an outstanding performer.

Of Human Bondage [VHS]

The interior life of a natural-born introvert is a tricky thing to convey in any story medium, but perhaps nowhere more than in feature films. Fortunately for this 1934 version of Of Human Bondage (the first of three), the introverted young doctor at the center of the story is played by Leslie Howard, who makes a slack spirit and puppet-of-destiny ennui look like a GQ ad from the age of Romanticism. Howard's character, well liked by peers and facing a promising future, becomes a slave to self-destructive impulse when he grows obsessed with a mercurial, promiscuous waitress (Bette Davis). She stands him up, she lets him down, she sleeps around-- basically doing anything she can think of to humiliate the plaintive, puppyish Howard. The good doctor's prospects soon sink... and then sink again and again every time she reappears, usually in dire circumstances, after prolonged absences. Much of Howard's performance borders on monotony, but how many ways can an actor show what it's like to lean against desks and ponder the enigma of himself? At least he looks classy while doing so. Meanwhile, Davis's electric performance, one of her best, gives director John Cromwell's slow pacing a shot in the arm. The supporting cast is very good: Alan Hale, Frances Dee, and Cromwell's then-wife, Kay Johnson, do a fine job helping to fill in the silences. Adapted from the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. --Tom Keogh