Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

edwagreen Eleanor Parker did a very good job in this 1946 remake of the 1934 Bette Davis classic. Parker portrays an English waitress, Mildred Rogers, with passion, but not with the vigor that Bette Davis showed in the role. Her total rejection scene of Paul Henried was a good one, but again not with the torrid hatred that Davis showed.Paul Henried appears to be stronger than Leslie Howard in the original version. He shows anger at Mildred and even rejects her.Alexis Smith is wasted here as the widowed writer who falls for Henried (Philip) in Paris. She does seem to suddenly fade from his life and the film.A story of a waitress, who not knowing what she really wanted out of life, is mean and vicious to the man who really loved her. He certainly was bonded to her.

spotted-owl "Of Human Bondage" (1946) is a moody tale of romantic obsession, set in Victorian England. Philip is a sensitive gentleman who becomes passionately obsessed with Mildred, a beautiful lower-class vixen who is selfish and ill-tempered. The film is based on the classic novel by W. Somerset Maugham.There are five reasons why the 1946 movie is the best version. First, Eleanor Parker is perfect as Mildred, the beautiful, shrill vixen. Second, the film is set in the late 1800s and has Victorian costumes and sets. Third, the lighting of the night scenes is dark and moody. Fourth, the musical score is excellent. Fifth, the film was directed by Edmund Goulding, known for his elegant and refined films. He directed classics including "Grand Hotel" (1932), "Dark Victory" (1939) and "The Razor's Edge" (1946).Other versions of "Of Human Bondage" include the famous 1934 version with Bette Davis, and a 1964 version. The 1934 version was set in the 1930s.The 1946 film has great atmosphere, with Victorian costumes and sets. Horse-drawn carriages travel along the cobblestone streets. Women wear elegant gowns with hats. Philip and Mildred spend a gloomy, misty day at Brighton beach. The entrance to the elaborate amusement pier is shown in the background.Mildred's costumes are in a tawdry-chic glamour style. Her jackets, skirts and hats do not match, and are decorated with sequins and feathers.The lighting is generally dark. Most of the scenes occur at night. There is high contrast between dark and light. The narrow, dark cobblestone streets are lit with gaslights. In one scene, Mildred appears in a tiny bright window wearing a black gown, looking out at the vast night. The darkness of the scenes gives the film a moody look.Eleanor Parker gives a superb performance as Mildred. She is alternately flirtatious and mean-spirited, and is prone to shrill outbursts of anger. Paul Henreid is also excellent as Philip, the gentleman who loves the wrong woman.The film begins in the Latin Quarter of Paris in 1897, at an artists' masquerade ball. One partygoer wears a skeleton costume, which is symbolic of death. Philip lives in an artist's garret. He is morose, because he wanted to be an artist, but his art instructors informed him that he is not talented. Philip leaves for London to attend medical school, and moves into a Victorian flat.Philip is a gentleman who is looking for passionate love. He is not charming or handsome, and is afflicted with a clubfoot, but he is kind, intelligent and well-mannered.When Philip meets Mildred working as a waitress at a Victorian tavern, he is completely obsessed, and wants to marry her. However, she does not love him, and is often scornful and derisive to him. Mildred consistently chooses the wrong men, handsome charmers who use her and then leave.Nora Nesbit (Alexis Smith) is an accomplished writer, and she loves Philip. However, she is too ambitious for Philip, and she does not understand his love of art.Mildred's affairs with other men makes Phillip's passion grow cold. When Mildred becomes pregnant and is abandoned by a callous lover, she resorts to prostitution to survive. Philip feels sorry for her, and tries to help her by giving her room and board, in exchange for domestic duties.There is a dramatic scene on Christmas Eve. Philip plans to spend Christmas with his friends, the Athelny family, instead of with Mildred. When Philip rejects her romantic advances, she becomes enraged. In a whirlwind of fury, Mildred screams as Philip departs, wrecks his apartment, burns his money and leaves.Philip later hears the tragic news that Mildred and her baby are dying. He sadly visits Mildred in the hospital. When Mildred dies, Philip's strange obsession also dies.In the springtime, Philip finds true happiness with the Athelny family, and plans to marry their young, proper daughter Sally. He has found joy in marriage, work and family.This film has interesting themes. Romantic obsession. Unrequited love. Social class structure. Falling in love with the wrong person. The tragic consequences of bad choices and selfishness. The happiness of family.The 1946 film "Of Human Bondage" has been underrated, and deserves more recognition. This movie has excellent acting, outstanding Victorian sets and costumes, moody night lighting, a great musical score, and skillful directing by Edmund Goulding. It should be on DVD. Highly recommended.

tomsview Of the three film versions of "Of Human Bondage" this is probably the least known. Critics at the time found it dull and compared it unfavourably with the 1934 version starring Bette Davis and Leslie Howard. On the contrary, I think that this version is more complex, more interesting and ultimately more satisfying than that earlier film.All versions chart the course of the destructive, one-sided relationship between medical student Philip Carey, played here by Paul Henreid, and working class waitress Mildred Rogers played by Eleanor Parker. But after his self-esteem reaches its lowest ebb, two far more caring women enter his life, one he rejects almost as cruelly as he himself was rejected, while the other provides him with the happiness he has searched for.For anyone who has read Somerset Maugham's novel, the film versions all share the same drawback; they only concentrate on one aspect of the novel - the unrequited and obsessive love of Philip Carey for Mildred Rogers. This is the most fascinating part of the novel to be sure, but it doesn't take place until about half way through the book. By the time it happens, we know a lot about Philip Carey - we have followed him from childhood, understand the sensitivity about his clubfoot, and identify with him totally. When he encounters Mildred Rogers and is rejected by her, we are as shocked as he is at the effect it has on his sense of self-worth and his life from that point on. No one has ever described the anguish that such a one-sided affair can unleash better than Maugham in this extraordinary novel - Sigmund Freud couldn't have done a more insightful job.And therein lies the challenge for the filmmakers because they all want to leap straight into the Philip and Mildred affair; there is no real build up, we are only vaguely aware of the vulnerabilities, and even the vanities that have been nurtured in Philip that could lead him into so destructive a relationship.With that said, after a slow start, this version of the story does become quite compelling. However it could have done without the narration, which doesn't even start until after Philip meets Mildred. The filmmakers should have worked a little harder to explain things without resorting to narration, which both the 1934 and 1964 versions managed to do.Paul Henreid was too old for the part - it's almost as though he was going through mid-life crisis - and his accent needed explaining. Fortunately, he had a strong enough screen presence to carry it off.Critics considered Eleanor Parker's performance weak when compared to Bette Davis's showier one in the 1934 version, but she handles it pretty well on the whole. She is possibly a little too strident, and like Davis struggled to deliver a decent Cockney accent. For anyone who has seen the 1964 version, it's interesting to compare her with Kim Novak who gave a very subdued performance, which didn't seem right at all. Possibly the forced, slightly neurotic quality in Parker's performance actually caught the spirit of Mildred Rogers all too well.Although not without fault, this version of Maugham's great novel is better than the critics would allow, and is certainly a film that rewards at least one viewing.

moonspinner55 W. Somerset Maugham's tragic story about a medical student in late 1800s London who is used and abused by a coarse, common waitress--one who has a habit of flirting with the wrong kind of men (she gets used, too). These two characters take turns debasing themselves and insulting each other, but a persistent question is never really answered: just what does the future doctor see in this woman? As played by Eleanor Parker, mercurial Mildred is childishly trampy and silly instead of dangerous; Parker switches her snarling anger on and off at whim, and when she pouts she sticks her chin out like a punished adolescent. As her would-be paramour, Paul Henreid (probably too old for the part, but not bad) has two expressions: a beaming, boyish smile and a thin-lipped, painful sort of incredulity. When he's chatting up a patient at the hospital or getting to know womanly authoress Alexis Smith, Henreid seems right at home, but his scenes with Parker don't quite come off. Story was previously filmed in 1934, and again in 1964, but this is the weakest variation, with little visual style, a skittering narrative, and uneven performances overall. ** from ****