Of Human Bondage, 1964, Laurence Harvey, Kim Novak

This 1964 film based on the novel of the same name by British author W. (William) Somerset Maugham, published in 1915, never lived up to the 1934 film version that helped make Bette Davis a well known actress. The wonderful theme song was written by English musician and composer Ron Godwin. Notice too, I said the movie was "based" on the novel, because there are some stark differences between Maugham's book and this film. Maugham's "general" story, however, is semi autobiographical, and elements of this were carried into the film script.   

Cast: American actress Kim Novak as Mildred Rogers; Philip Carey is played by actor Laurence Harvey, who was born in Lithuania to Jewish parents, but raised from a young age in South Africa, before moving to England after World War II; English actor Robert Morley as Dr. Jacobs, English actor Jack Hedley as Griffiths ("Griff"), English actor Ronald Lacey as Mathews, Irish actress Siobhán (pronounced as if, "Shi-vaughn") McKenna as Norah Nesbit.

As a boy in England, Philip Carey, who has a club foot, is badly mistreated by his male schoolmates. Philip's mild and kind manner are no match for the ruthlessness of the other boys, who even pick on Philip's dead mother! This opening scene sets the tone for what's to come, as Philip is sensitive and self conscious about his foot, and generally insecure about himself. The film shifts to Paris where Philip is being given a brutally frank assessment of his artistic abilities, or rather of his lack of artistic ability. Philip returns to England and attends medical school where he meets and becomes friends with two other male medical students, Griffiths and Mathews, and the latter wants Philip's help getting him a date with a waitress at a tearoom to whom he has taken a fancy. Philip finds himself attracted to the waitress, Mildred Rogers, and he begins to go to the tearoom regularly, until finally, he asks her to go to dinner with him. They go to a fine restaurant and Mildred asks Philip if he can afford such a dinner, and he tells her an uncle died and left him a great deal of money. Mildred presents herself as a person of means and good family, telling Philip, "My family were very well connected... I don't have to work for a living. I just don't like doin' nuthin'." While Philip knows none of this true, he can't take his eyes off of Mildred and he glows at just being near her. When Philip takes Mildred to the theater, she flirts with another man from a distance. Philip sees what is going on, but he says nothing.

We're then reminded once again of Philip's physical affliction, as his medical class is studying the case of a young boy with a club foot. The instructing doctor is anything but easy on his students and he pointedly twists the symbolic knife around in Philip, as he tells him in front of all of the other medical students that the boy's club foot is a subject Philip should know something about.

Then when Mildred is supposed to go out with Philip again, she tells him her aunt is sick and that she has to sit with her. Philip tells her he believes her, but he just feels uneasy about Mildred's story, so he waits and watches from a distance until Mildred leaves work, only to see her get into a carriage with the man she had flirted with at the theater. Philip goes to the carriage where Mildred is enraged at him. Her male companion shoves Philip to the ground, just as the boys at school had done to him years before.

Philip relates to Griffiths what happened and Griffiths tells him that this should now end the matter, that Mildred is not worth any anquish, and that she is as mean and selfish as they come, but Philip says he knows her better than Griffiths. Griffiths finally comes right out and says Mildred is a whore who just doesn't walk the streets. This angers Philip and he ends the conversation.

Philip fails his exams in medical school, and when he goes to a pub for a beer, Mildred is there with another man. Philip "sort of" tries to leave, but Mildred catches up to him. She sweet talks him, and he gives in and forgives her for lying to him. When Philip suggests they leave the pub, he then mentions that she can't just walk out on the man she was with, but she tells him, "Oh can't I? You just watch me." Away they go, as the man stands calling out to Mildred.

Philip and Mildred kiss and Philip asks her if she cares for him. Mildred answers, "Of course I like you, I just let you kiss me, haven't I?" But Philip says, "You haven't answered my question?" This brings Mildred to firmly retort, "Questions.... you're always cross examining me." They part and Philip goes and buys a ring for Mildred. When they meet again the next day, Philip tells Mildred he has a surprise for her and she gets quite excited. They go to Philip's place and he asks her if she will marry him. This brings Mildred to say, "You've really got it bad, haven't you?" When Philip replies affirmatively, Mildred asks, "Do you think we'd be happy?" And Philip says, "No, but what does it matter?" He gives Mildred the ring and she's quite taken with it. Mildred and Philip end up in bed and he tells her how he loves her and that she's changed his life. Then Mildred tells Philip she is getting married. Philip is despondent and as Mildred gets ready to leave, he asks her why he "got to kiss the bride." She says, "Well... I had to make it up to you somehow." It's all a transaction in Mildred's world. She offers to return the ring, and Philip declines, but she says, "I don't think I'd better (keep it), it wouldn't be quite good taste, would it?" She sets the ring down and leaves.

Griffiths takes Philip to a party where he meets Norah Nesbit, a writer who uses a male name as her pseudonym. A relationship develops between the two. Norah gives comfort to the troubled Philip and he returns to his medical studies with renewed interest and he passes his exams. Norah is kind and worries after Philip, much as Philip had done with Mildred. She tells Philip not to be so self conscious and sensitive about his club foot, because most people only notice it when they first meet him, but then they forget about it, as he should too.

As Philip comes home one evening, a forlorn Mildred is waiting for him. She's pregnant and she tells Philip that she didn't get married, because the man was already married, and that he left her with no money. Philip tells her she is to have the child and that he will take care of her until the baby is born. Mildred, now frightened and alone, asks Philip if he still cares for her, and his positive answer leads her to say that things will be different this time, but when Philip asks why, Mildred answers, "Because I owe it to you." It's still a transaction, not a love affair.

When Philip sees Norah, he tells her that Mildred has come back. Norah can tell it's over with Philip, but she asks why he took Mildred back, to which he answers, "I don't know... There's a saying somewhere, something about human bondage."

Mildred has the baby, a girl, but she gives her up to a lady for care, which is paid for by Philip. She convinces Philip to take her out to some nice place that evening, but she asks that Philip bring Griffiths along too, "he makes me laugh." During the evening out, Mildred spends most of her time dancing and laughing with Griffiths. The next day, Philip tells her not to humiliate him by chasing after Griff, but she says she can't help it if Griffiths plays up to her. Philip then tells her that Griff doesn't like her, that he's told him that. From her purse Mildred pulls a letter from Griff and hands it to Philip, who reads it in silence. Tempers then flare a bit and Mildred tells Philip, "I like you very much, as a friend, but you can't live on friendship, now can you?" This brings Philip to bluntly tell her that she hasn't found it too difficult living off of his "friendship," because he's been keeping her. The temperatures rise and Philip calls Mildred "a vulgar little tart," and she angrily says, "you've forced yourself on me," and then she says how revolted she's been by him. He slaps her and tells her she can go to Griffiths to see if he will keep her in such a lifestyle.

After this whole episode, Philip barely speaks to Griffiths, but one day Griff tells him Mildred is walking the streets as a prostitute. Philip finds her and learns that she has the baby with her, as she doesn't have money to pay the lady to take care of the child any longer. Philip tells her he'll get someone to take care of the baby. He takes Mildred with him to his place, but this time it's truly different. After a time, Mildred is restless and she fixes herself up to look as she once did. She plays up to Philip, but he no longer sees Mildred as in the past. He now treats Mildred much more as a patient, not as the focus of his love. When Mildred tells Philip she loves him and that she wants to make everything up to him, he says it's too late. When she asks why, he says, "Perhaps because I once loved you too much," and he removes her arms from around his neck. When she tries to lure Philip to her bed, he tells her she disgusts him. No longer bound to her manipulations, Philip's freedom angers Mildred and she tries to humiliate him by telling him how she wiped her mouth every time after kissing him, and how she laughed at him behind his back. She calls him "a cripple," because she knows how sensitive he has been about his club foot. Such things would have once weighed heavily on Philip, but not now, and the loss of control over Philip leaves Mildred furious. When Philip returns home, Mildred is gone, but she has wrecked his apartment and slashed many of his belongings.

Philip is now a legal doctor and he works in the outpatient clinic for the hospital. One day after treating a patient, Philip turns around and there is Mildred sitting waiting to be seen as a patient. She tells Philip she wants no favors, just some medicine for a throat problem. Philip examines her and tells her it would be best if she stays for a couple of days while he does some tests. Mildred says she just wants some medicine. Philip believes she doesn't want to stay because of the baby, but she tells him the baby is dead. Philip does a blood test and when he gets the results, he goes to find Mildred. He asks her if she's ever seen anyone die of syphilis. He tells her he doesn't want anything from her, he just wants to help her. Mildred calls Philip "a dirty crippled bastard," so he turns and leaves.

While the time frame in the film goes unspecified, presumably not long thereafter, as Philip sees patients, Griffiths comes in to tell him that Mildred has been admitted to the hospital and that she's dying. Philip goes to her bedside and she tells him, "You always were a gentleman. Promise me... I want a proper funeral, like a lady." Philip says, "You're not going to die. I'm going to look after you," but Mildred is gone. Philip goes to the cemetery, where a handful of people are present for Mildred's funeral. As he walks away, he sees Sally, a woman in love with Philip, and who wants to marry him.

Photo is from the 2014 Warner Archive Collection DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Bondage-This word is not related to "bound," "band" or to "bond," the noun meaning, "something that binds, or holds together," all from the Germanic origins of English, even though it certainly looks to be related to these words. It IS related to "build" and to "bower," both words also from the Germanic origins of English. "Bondage" goes back to Indo European "bhu/bu," which meant, "to dwell, to live upon or in," derived from the notion, "to be, to exist." This gave Old Germanic "buanan," meaning, "to dwell.'' The Old Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "buan," meaning, "to dwell, to occupy a place or space." Now the problem... Old English (Anglo-Saxon) had "bonda," which meant, "(a) householder (one who dwells or occupies a space to live in), the head of a family household, husband." North Germanic had the related "boa" from the Old Germanic form, meaning, "to dwell, to make ready," and which gave Old Norse, "boandi," which meant, "dweller, free farmer (not a serf), husband." So, did Old English get "bonda" from its own form of the Old Germanic, or did it get it from Old Norse, or did Old Norse reinforce the already existent English word? Anyway, English "bonda" then became "bond," with shift in meaning away from "free farmer," to "serf, a farmer obligated as a tenant to a lord." With the Normans in charge of English justice and law in the Middle Ages, they used both their own form of French, but also Latin, in the administration of the justice system. They took the English word "bond" and Latinized it to "bondagium," to represent "the state of subservient tenancy." This then became, "bondage" by the early 1300s, and the meaning expanded more generally to "a condition of slavery," perhaps due to translations of the Bible in reference to the Hebrews in Egypt. The sadomasochistic sexual meaning "seems" to have come about, at least in more general usage, in the 20th Century.