- Actors: Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny
- Directors: John Cromwell
- Writers: Ann Coleman, Lester Cohen, W. Somerset Maugham
- Producers: Pandro S. Berman
- Format: Black & White, Full Screen, Mono, PAL
- Language English
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Eureka
- VHS Release Date: 31 Mar 2003
- Run Time: 83 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CW1B
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 23,515 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
W. Somerset Maugham's novel "Of Human Bondage" receives an excellent adaptation to the screen in this 1934 film directed by John Cromwell. Leslie Howard plays sensitive, club-footed Philip Carey, the second-rate artist who turns to the study of medicine, even though he is older than his classmates. Philip becomes tragically obsessed with Mildred Rogers (Bette Davis), an illiterate waitress in a tearoom near the medical school. Although Mildred insults him for being a cripple, Philip spurns an offer of romance from Nora (Kay Johnson), an attractive woman who writes romance novels under a male pseudonym. When Philips agrees to marry Mildred when she shows up pregnant and jilted by her salesman boyfriend (Alan Hale), she runs off with another med student (Reginald Denny) at their engagement party. A friendly patient (Reginald Owen) invites Philip home to meet his sensitive daughter Sally (Frances Dee). But Mildred returns again, this time with a baby, and Philip is too weak to refuse her. The result are disastrous consequences for them both.
Maugham's semi-autobiographical novel was published in 1915 and is considered his masterwork. By Hollywood standards, this film adaptation is remarkably faithful, not to mention literate and intelligent, so a lot of the credit has to go to Lester Cohen for the screenplay. Howard handles the role of the sensitive Philip well, but it is Davis who turned a lot of heads for the first time with her performance as the tawdry little waitress (Life magazine called it "Probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U.S. actress"). Certainly this is the role that made Warner Brothers take a serious look at the young actress. What is remarkable is how much of this emotionally shattering tale is packed into 83 minutes of running time.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Of Human Bondage, based on the novel by Somerset Maugham, is a powerful but melancholy film that I find strangely mesmerizing. Leslie Howard stars as Philip Carey, an introverted, artistic man who comes to London to study medicine after abandoning his dreams of becoming an artist in Paris. Carey was born with a club foot, and we watch rather mortified as one of his instructors makes him show his foot to the class, revealing the embarrassment that he normally keeps contained on the outside. One day in a nearby café, Carey sees waitress Mildred Rogers (played fabulously by Bette Davis), a rather ill-natured, brazenly taciturn waitress. Her attitude is rather rude and certainly strange and cold, but Carey is immediately fascinated by her. After inexplicably falling in love with Mildred, he succeeds in winning a few dates with her, putting up with her mind games, deception, and seeming lack of humanity. She is frustratingly noncommittal in everything he asks her, replying "I don't mind" to virtually all of his questions and allowing him almost no emotional contact with her at all. He finally resolves to ask her to marry him, but she shocks him by declaring her impending nuptials to another man. Carey's depression grows, and his grades in medical school suffer horribly. In time, he finds a young woman who is a bit matronly but genuinely cares for him. Then Mildred shows up again, pregnant and alone. He takes care of her with money he doesn't really have only to see her leave again with another man. This trend continues throughout the story. Whenever Carey finds happiness within his grasp, Mildred shows up unannounced, and he finds himself powerless to save himself from her debilitating influence on him.
Carey and Mildred are complicated creatures. While Mildred basically comes off as an unfeeling tramp, one can't help but believe that there is something human inside her that is genuinely attracted to Carey and the kind of gentlemanly life he can offer her, but her affections continually prove themselves fickle at best. As for Carey, his fatalistic love for Mildred makes no sense whatsoever, as she never fails to treat him harshly. Other women do come to love him deeply and truly, and Sally, the daughter of one of his patients, seems perfect for him, yet one strongly senses the fact that he can only truly love Mildred. It is really that part of the story and not the tragic life of Mildred herself which makes this movie so poignant and sad.
Of Human Bondage is the movie that made Bette Davis a verifiable star way back in 1934. Her performance is certainly fantastic, but she really provides only a hint of the actress she would become. The fact that her character is so impossibly self-serving and unfeeling makes it hard to identify with or like her (especially when she gets angry), yet Bette Davis makes her an unforgettable character of almost hypnotic fascination. I should say that Leslie Howard is also wonderful in this movie. The kind of aloof passive resistance he showed five years later in Gone With the Wind is a perfect match for the character of Philip Carey. He is almost incapable of standing up to fate, allowing his life to be brought to the point of ruin, both financial and emotional, by a woman who seemingly lives to torment him. I'm always left with a strange feeling after watching this movie, one of strange disquiet and sentimentality. Released in 1934, Of Human Bondage remains a powerful and compelling story of human passion, and Bette Davis' performance is eternally magical.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The WHE edition of this film uses a very old print and the quality isn't the best, however it is still watchable. If you are a film fanatic you may want to put your pennies towards the more expensive version, but if you like me are just curious to see this 1934 Bette Davis' movie that made her a star, then I would recommend a purchase. Leslie Howard as the weak Phillip is excellent as always, but Bette shows just how much of an actress she was in playing the tormenting and doomed Mildred. I would have given this more stars if it hadn't been for the print.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Such Bad Quality
I bought this to see Bette Davis in her first major role. The quality of the film is so bad; it's like watching an old silent film. I guess this is how it was originally filmed. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Flyte
Movie was good but not the DVD sent to me
The movie, "Of Human Bondage" is great..I had seen it before..a better version..the one I had was a terrible copy.. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Rosalyn H. Martty
Bette DAVIS
This must be the worst Bette Davis film ever! I'm afraid it's in the dustbin!
Published 22 months ago by P. Leason
Great film
I bought this for my mum who loves Bette Davis, she loves the film and anything Davis stars in
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by Lynn562
The start of something big
Therre are moments in this film where you wish you could slap her yourself " Mildred" not Bette.
If you can put up with the understandable quality ( lack of)
This is a... Read more
If you can put up with the understandable quality ( lack of)
This is a... Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2010 by Mr. R. Llewellyn-david
Bette fan
Very young Bette in this dvd, not seen in shops, thank you Amazon for all the Bette Davis films i have been able to purchase from you and not from shops.
Published on 5 Nov 2009 by jules
Good movie, bad DVD
The recording on this DVD seems very poor, hazy and juddery like watching an early silent movie. I've seen this film on TV and it wasn't like this. I enjoyed the film itself. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2009 by Sam
good story, bad acting.
I do love Bette Davis, I think she just exudes glamour and nostalgia from my favourite decade, the 30s. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2008 by Ms. F. I. Macdonald
one to rent
As big a fan of Bette Davis as I am, I think it most unlikely that I would want to watch this film more than once so I am glad I rented it from the excellent Amazon selection... Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2007 by Mr. John Crompton
Bette as Mildred Rogers
This film is classic Davis, she steals the scenes as usual.
This was one of the early Davis films and shows what was to come. Read more
This was one of the early Davis films and shows what was to come. Read more
Published on 10 April 2003 by Mr. P. Wilson
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