270 Ratings

Of Human Bondage

United States, 1934

Drama, Romance

Synopsis

Abandoning artistic ambitions, sensitive and club-footed Philip Carey enrolls in medical school and falls in love with illiterate waitress Mildred Rogers.

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Of Human Bondage Directed by John Cromwell

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Awards & Festivals

Academy Awards

1935 | Nominee: Best Actress in a Leading Role

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Critics reviews

Shadowplay

OF HUMAN BONDAGE is, I guess, the first kind of classic John Cromwell film, in that it’s well-remembered and has a classic source (Somerset Maugham) and iconic stars. And it’s compelling. Leslie Howard plays the mug of a hero beautifully, and Bette Davis, who invents the Dick Van Dyke cockney accent, gives a fearless, fiercely committed performance free of vanity.

David Cairns

December 23, 2016

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Anyone who’s read the novel will surely feel the spirit of Maugham’s complex characters in their nuanced performances, though Cromwell and crew were forced to work around the newly enforced Production Code… Cromwell’s OF HUMAN BONDAGE is a competent adaptation of a great novel that’s notably heightened by exceptional performances.

Kathleen Sachs

October 02, 2015

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Nearly all the supporting actors register as virtuous ciphers (Frances Dee and Kay Johnson, as good-girl love interests, offend most blandly) or chew the scenery with relish (Alan Hale as an adulterous German stuffed shirt, Reginald Owen braying as an avuncular eccentric). And journeyman director John Cromwell defaults to shooting the female players and Howard in cross-cut, head-on close-ups when he’s not hamstrung by RKO’s shoestring recreation of London streetscapes.

Bill Weber

June 17, 2013

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What are people saying?

Pierluigi Puccini's rating of the film Of Human Bondage
Pierluigi Puccini

The electrifying, larger than life persona of Bette Davis and her big swollen eyes are enough to captivate Leslie Howard's poor but well meaning sap, and film lovers like myself too. A compelling melodrama about unrequited love, obsession, excess of candidness, and punishment.
January 24, 2019 17:43
- 4
- 0
pjjrfan's rating of the film Of Human Bondage
pjjrfan

That scene where Davis's character explodes on Howard's character is intense as dated as this movie seems now that scene alone makes this movie worthwhile. That kind of emotion doesn't have a era that's as real a performance as any I have seen.
January 24, 2019 16:43
- 6
- 0
msmichel's rating of the film Of Human Bondage
msmichel

Davis famously rebelled against Jack Warner to do this film for another studio and successfully reinvented herself as a dramatic actress in doing so. She is fabulously vulgar here fully capturing the W. Somerset Maugham creation in a larger than life performance. Howard is quite striking as well in a part that seems tailor fit.
February 28, 2016 20:17
- 1
- 0
mjgildea's rating of the film Of Human Bondage
mjgildea

Heavy on all the things I dislike about movies from the 30s (hollowness, overdramaticism and slow pacing), Of Human Bondage is alright but not fantastic. The story is kind of a trainwreck (if only I could've popped into the screen and choked Leslie Howard) and watching an adorable Bette Davis turn into a ghoul was a beautiful bummer.
December 01, 2010 17:06
- 1
- 0
Gia de Almeida's rating of the film Of Human Bondage
Gia de Almeida

While Cromwell oversimplified and underdeveloped one of my favourite novels of all time and made it quite a common melodrama, I must say the casting was absolutely perfect. Bette Davis is exactly as I pictured Mildred and the same can be said about Leslie Howard as Phillip. They carry the movie and make watching it worthwhile with their outstanding and compelling performances.
August 17, 2015 12:28
- 0
- 0
Neither/Nor's rating of the film Of Human Bondage
Neither/Nor

In those exchanges of viewing, viewer, and viewed, a discourse of gaze and tension that the narrative can hardly accommodate.
August 20, 2014 21:34
- 0
- 0
micol cavuoto mei's rating of the film Of Human Bondage
micol cavuoto mei

cruel, deep, reminded me of a lot that I know well.
September 25, 2012 15:17
- 5
- 0
BUSHRA's rating of the film Of Human Bondage
BUSHRA

even though i'm frustrated that my favorite book (like other versions of it) reduce the story to an ill-fated and mismatched romance, i have to say that bette davis' impeccable performance proves why she should have won the oscar for that year and why i'm giving it five stars. her scenes were frightfully sincere and i think the complete embodiment of what maugham envisioned for mildred.
January 24, 2019 17:04
- 4
- 0