Of Human Bondage
by John Cromwell
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bette Davis, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson, Leslie Howard, Reginald DennyDirector: John Cromwell
Cinematographer: Henry W. Gerrard
Editor: William Morgan
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Writer: Ann Coleman
Writer: Lester Cohen
Writer: W. Somerset Maugham
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 83 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-01-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Alpha Video
Movie Reviews of Of Human Bondage
Movie Review: Bette's Tour de Force
Summary: 4 Stars
This version of "Of Human Bondage" is hampered by the early 1930's puritanical production code.
Nevertheless, Bette Davis turns in a fantastic performance as the sluttish Mildred.
Leslie Howard is also effective as the masochistic Philip.
All in all this is a 5 "star" film.
So why did I only give it 4 "stars"?
The quality of the video is mediocre, the digital transfer is not good, the print used was scratched and the sound at times muddy.
Summary of Of Human Bondage
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 KeoghDrama DVD Video
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