Of Human Bondage
The Love That Lifted a Man to Paradise......and Hurled Him Back to Earth Again
Of Human Bondage (1934)
Production
Director
Scenario
W. Somerset Maugham
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Leslie Howard
Philip Carey
Bette Davis
Mildred Rogers
Frances Dee
Sally Athelny
Kay Johnson
Norah
Reginald Denny
Harry Griffiths
Alan Hale
Emil Miller
Reginald Sheffield
Cyril Dunsford
Reginald Owen
Thorpe Athelny
Short description
A young man finds himself attracted to a cold and unfeeling waitress who may ultimately destroy them both.
What's left behind the scenes
- While preparing for the role, Bette Davis hired a London native as her housekeeper in order to practice her pronunciation.
- Bette Davis came up with her own makeup for the scenes depicting the final stages of Mildred's illness. Originally, the script suggested that Mildred had syphilis, but during filming, syphilis was replaced with tuberculosis due to the Hays Code (an ethical code for film production in Hollywood), which was being tightened at that time.
- Bette Davis (1908-1989) wanted the role of Mildred in the hope that it would become her breakthrough performance. She begged Jack L. Warner (1892-1978), the head of Warner Bros., for permission to break her contract so that she could star in the film. He eventually granted her permission because he was convinced that nothing good would come of it. However, when talk of an Oscar for Davis for this role began, Warner started urging members of the Academy to vote against her. His efforts were successful, and Davis did not win the Oscar for Best Actress. Those who supported Davis were shocked and petitioned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to hold a write-in vote. In such a vote, however, Davis also lost to Claudette Colbert (1903-1996), who starred for Frank Capra (1897-1991) in the film "It Happened One Night" (1934). After this incident, write-in ballots were banned, and the counting of Academy members' votes was handed over to the independent auditing firm PriceWaterhouse.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
