OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1934)

This is the first, and generally regarded as the best, adaptation of Somerset Maugham's famous novel.

The fact that a novel of over 600 pages has been compressed into a film with a running time of less than 90 minutes suggests that a lot of the subtlety and depth of the book has been lost.

For example, what sort of bondage are we talking about?

Since the main focus of the film is Philip's infatuation with a waitress Mildred who doesn't love him, and which almost brings him to ruin, I came away from it with the idea that the bondage Maugham is referring to is that of unrequited love, especially since Philip has relationships with two other women (Norah and Sally) who love him far more than he does them.

However having now read some reviews of the novel this would seem to be an oversimplification.  From these I get the impression that part of Philip's problem, in that he is unhappy, is that he is always searching for something unattainable that he thinks will bring him happiness, such as a soul mate, and which means he can never settle to anything.  

At the end of the novel he frees himself from this bondage, by deciding to settle for marriage to Sally.

Anyhow back to the film.

Philip is a character who could easily come across as a rather frustrating protagonist, because despite his obsession with Mildred he often seems detached and passive, and unable to make the right choices.  

Fortunately he is played by Leslie Howard who is able to imbue Philip with qualities of sensitivity and gentleness that were enough to make me sympathise with him.

The film follows the ups and downs of his relationship with Mildred (mainly downs) until she dies of tuberculosis.

(In the novel she has syphilis because she has had to resort to prostitution, and her ultimate fate is not known - apparently there's quite a lot of sex in the novel, all of which is removed in the film).

Along the way we meet first Norah who seems a perfect match for Philip (kind, cultured, mature) except that he doesn't love her, and then Sally, who is devoted to him. (In the novel it seems that Sally's feelings for Philip are more ambiguous).  

In the film's final scene he proposes to Sally on the spur of the moment whilst they are in a busy street.  She's unsure of whether he loves her, but the film does end with her accepting, and him rejoicing in his "freedom" (from what though?), represented by them jumping into a taxi together.  

It's a strange ending which speaks to the way that in condensing and sanitising the novel a lot of nuance has been lost.  

The film has a good cast and it's competently directed, but it's a somewhat episodic affair which doesn't build to an especially satisfying ending. 

What elevates it and makes it worth watching is that Mildred is played by the great Bette Davis, in a role that launched her illustrious career.  No matter that her cockney accent is all over the shop, she's mesmerising in every scene.  And she was brave enough to fully commit to the role, which is not a sympathetic one, insisting on the use of unflattering makeup in her final scenes when she is terminally ill.

RATING: ✓ Cheers