Of Human Bondage [1934]

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Higham, Charles, The Life of Bette Davis. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company 1981; ISBN 0-02-551500-4, pp. 66–72 It was a long way before Philip came up with such a conclusion, and the experience of a love for a selfish and vulgar woman, called Mildred, was the last point of his attempts to become free. His obsession with this girl can be viewed as desperate and unconscious attempt for happiness. Philip by his nature was very sensitive, but he always tried not to show his vulnerability. Mildred had no moral values and her primary interest was money and prosperity, she took advantage of Philip’s soft heart and generosity. Mildred even let herself use and hurt Philip, but he continued making efforts to win her favor and her heart. This love affair was not destined to have a happy end, but a miserable one. What he realized from this relationship was that happiness cannot be measurement of freedom, or rather the pursuit of happiness. Philip finally found peace when he stopped to look for it, and let things go their way. Philip was brought up as a gentleman, and he was expected to become involved in religion and at some point to go into the Church, as his uncle was a vicar, and he grew up under the rules of church in his uncle’s house. But Philip preferred his own way, and rejected religion for art studies, even though excelled academically, and later rejected it for accounting, and finally he found himself in medicine. Philip had even some doubts about these studies, but he never got out of this path. As time progresses, a letter is sent to Philip which informs him that his uncle has died, leaving a small inheritance. With the inheritance money, Philip is able to return to medical school and pass his examinations to become a physician. Through Philip, Maugham broaches the question of his own loss of religious faith. Young Philip hears that if one prays fervently enough, all one’s prayers will be answered. When he puts this guarantee to the test by praying as fervently as he can that his club foot will be made whole, his prayers are not answered. This disappointment unleashes a doubt that finally causes Philip to reject the religion in which he has been reared.

Philip provides a flat for her, arranges to take care of her financially, and breaks off his relationship with Norah. Norah and Philip admit how interpersonal relationships may amount to bondage (Philip was bound to Mildred, as Norah was to Philip, and as Mildred was to Emil). One reaction RKO executives never expected to hear at the preview was laughter. After watching the film several times, they felt the Max Steiner score was to blame, and the composer wrote a new one that included a motif for each of the principal characters. [3]

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Stanley Archer's Artists and Paintings in Maugham’s Of Human Bondage. English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, Volume 14, Number 3, 1971, pp. 181-89 (Article). ELT Press. Project Muse. a b c d e f g Stine, Whitney, and Davis, Bette, Mother Goddam: The Story of the Career of Bette Davis. New York: Hawthorn Books 1974; ISBN 0-8015-5184-6, pp. 41–42, 50–51, 57–63, 68 Canham, Kingsley. 1976. The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 5: King Vidor, John Cromwell, Mervyn LeRoy. The Tantivy Press, London. ISBN 0-498-01689-7 Only one true supplement adorns this release, but it's an exceptionally good one and should not be missed.

a b c Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p57In Heidelberg, Philip lives at a boarding house with other foreigners and enjoys Germany. Philip's guardians persuade him to move to London for an apprenticeship. His colleagues there resent him, believing he is a "gentleman". He goes on a business trip with one of his managers to Paris and is inspired to study art in France. A story of compulsion on the one hand and control on the other, the story still has much resonance today even if it’s dressed up as a bad woman dragging down a good man, although the more traditional positions in such a relationship are reversed here. The story seems a bit hoary now as it’s hard to credit anyone meekly accepting the cruel treatment Davis’s selfish and heartless waitress doles out to the sensitive and besotted Howard. Crippled physically as well as emotionally, until that is, his clubbed foot condition is miraculously cured near the end, he spurns the love of two other pleasanter and indeed prettier young women as Davis’s parasitic Mildred sponges off him every time her latest boyfriend shows her the door.

Grebey, James. "The Book Zendaya Reads in New 'Spider-Man' Trailer Is an Easter Egg". Inverse . Retrieved 14 August 2022. Finally, almost by default, Philip falls into an affair with Sally, the daughter of his friends, the Athelnys. After a scare that Sally might be pregnant proves to be groundless, Philip decides that he wants to marry her even though he does not love her. He needs the pattern that such a marriage will provide, just as Maugham apparently sought a similar pattern in his abortive marriage to Syrie Wellcome. Brown, Gene (1995). Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from Its Beginnings to the Present (1sted.). New York City: Wiley. p. 119. ISBN 0-02-860429-6.

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Of Human Bondage 1946". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System ( Time Warner) . Retrieved 15 August 2016. Davis designed her own make-up for the scenes depicting the final stages of Mildred's illness, changed from syphilis to tuberculosis to satisfy the demands of the Hays Code, [9] which, under Joseph Breen, was beginning to expand and rigidly enforce an all-encompassing Production Code. On July 1, 1934, three days after the film was released, the upgraded system of censorship was formally announced.

What is really significant in Of Human Bondage is that it touches almost all the complexities of human life: these are upbringing and education issues, place of religion and morality, difficulties in finding an occupation, and the obstacles which are faced when having some inability. One of the last is Philip’s clubfoot, which prevented him to become a military man or a sportsman. Finally, especially prominent is the theme of love, which usually is the reason of all the troubles. The meaning of life always has been a question of all the times, and it might never be answered, but it must not become a reason not to try. Update this section!The rest, as they say, is history, and Davis' career would soon soar to enviable and dizzying heights. Were it not for the watershed role of Mildred, however, who knows what the Davis legacy would be. Though dated and a bit stylized, 'Of Human Bondage' defines the Davis persona - a ballsy broad unafraid of risk, passionate about her craft, intolerant of incompetence, and fiercely, unashamedly driven. It may not be a great film, but it allows us to witness the birth of a great actress, and for that reason alone, it will never be obsolete. Of Human Bondage is a 1934 American drama film directed by John Cromwell and regarded by critics as the film that made Bette Davis a star. [1] The screenplay by Lester Cohen is based on the 1915 novel Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. Maugham brings a lot of issues in his novel concerning every single aspect of human lives. Among these are the dangerous games people are playing, the place of cruelty and compassion, and how people create their own bondages in and their tries to become free. In this novel Maugham shows himself more than a writer; we see how deeply he reaches the psychological and philosophical aspects of human nature. While working at a hospital, Philip befriends a family man, Thorpe Athelny, who has lived in Toledo, Spain and is enthusiastically translating the works of St.John of the Cross. Philip invests in mines but is left nearly penniless because of events surrounding the Boer War. Unable to pay his rent, he wanders the streets for several days before the Athelnys take him in and find him a department store job, which he hates. His talent for drawing is discovered and he receives a promotion and a raise in salary, but his time at the store is short-lived.