MauiPeterBMovieReviews.blogspot.com: Of Human Bondage (1946) [TV-PG] ****

Of Human Bondage is a slow-paced, but intriguing film, loosely based on W. Somerset Maugham's novel about how the obsessive nature of romantic love has the power to destroy us. The film opens in Paris where Paul Henreid’s character, Philip Carey, has decided to give up trying to become an artist after two years of failure, and return to London to study medicine, which will be paid for by a trust fund. He meets author Nora Nesbitt (Alexis Smith) in the first scene, and they later become good friends in London. Upon first arriving in London, Philip goes to a tea house with a fellow student and becomes wildly infatuated with a sluttish, promiscuous waitress named Mildred Rogers (Eleanor Parker), who does not return his affection and, in fact treats him with callous disdain.

While Nora tries unsuccessfully to interest Philip in her, he becomes totally obsessed with Mildred, although he know she hates him. She rejects him in favor of Emil Miller (Richard Aherne), another tea house patron, who gets her pregnant and then abandons her. Mildred then goes to Philip, who introduces her to his friend Harry Griffiths (Patric Knowles) and the two have a brief affair. Even after Mildred turns to prostitution, Philip cares for her and her baby daughter, and allows her to call herself Mrs. Philip Carey. Only after Mildred trashes his apartment and burns his last £80, leaving him destitute and unable to complete medical school does Philip realizes what a fool he has been.

The third act is the most positive one. Philip is warmly accepted into the loving family of his old friend Athelny (Edmund Gwenn) who offers to help him find a job. However, it is only after recovering from a case of pneumonia and watching Mildred die in a hospital bed following her daughter’s death that Philip is finally released from his obsession and becomes aware that Athelny’s teenage daughter Sally (Janis Paige) is in love with him. Philip proposes to Sally and the film ends happily in what might be considered a Hollywood ending.

The eternal theme of Of Human Bondage is that, if we love someone intensely enough, we should be able to overcome their indifference, disdain or outright hatred. An entire body of literature, motion pictures and television has been devoted to this theme in which either we succeed and the person returns our love, or we fail and are miserable. One example is Jane Austen’s classic Pride & Prejudice, in which Miss Elizabeth Bennett disdainfully explains to Mr. Darcy that nothing could tempt her to marry the man who has ruined, perhaps forever, the happiness of a most beloved sister. Of course we know that Darcy’s extraordinary acts of kindness and compassion eventually win over Elizabeth.

Carrying the theme one step further is the concept of knowing someone is infatuated with you and keeping them on the hook while you pursue romance elsewhere. Mildred did this to Philip in Of Human Bondage, keeping him on the hook while having other affairs.

The point is that while we know that irrational, obsessive love has the power to destroy us, there is no rational argument that can be made to dissuade us while we are in its grip. And as in the case of Philip Carey, only a life-threatening illness, Mildred Roger’s death and the fresh new love of Sally Athelny could free him.

Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker both play their parts incredibly well. Eleanor Parker is especially good playing against type, unlike the sweet, lovely young woman she had played in many early roles, especially in The Very Thought of You (1944). In fact, Parker didn’t even look like the same person. Her ability to disappear into a role was noted by Doug McClelland in his 1989 biography of her, titled Eleanor Parker: Woman of a Thousand Faces.