OVP: Of Human Bondage (1934)

Film: Of Human Bondage (1934)
Stars: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson
Director: John Cromwell
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Actress-Bette Davis...well, kind of-we'll get into it)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

We continue on our week-long look at nominees in the Best Actress category with someone who, well, wasn't actually an Oscar nominee for Best Actress.  We don't think about this today, because the rule has been dormant for so long, but between 1934 and 1935, write-ins were allowed at the Oscars, and as a result, we have a situation where someone definitely beat one of the nominees (in this case, Davis got more votes for Of Human Bondage than actress Grace Moore for One Night of Love, which was an official nomination), so for the sake of the Oscar Viewing Project, I'm going to count this as a nomination and when we eventually get to it, this performance will be eligible to win the OVP Official Ballot from that year.  This will be true of the nominations the following year for A Midsummer Night's Dream, Captain Blood, G-Men, and Black Fury, all of which got write-in nominations.  I won't include, however, films that didn't beat any of the actual nominees but we know received write-in support; this is basically only one person (Myrna Loy was fifth place in 1934 for The Thin Man, but this was a year where there were only three nominated Best Actresses).  So, in keeping both with the theme and establishing that rule for the Oscar Viewing Project, let's get into Of Human Bondage.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film, based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, is about Philip Carey (Howard), a club-footed painter who after being told that he has no talent, decides to become a medical doctor.  He falls madly in love with Mildred (Davis), a foul-mouthed, cruel waitress who treats him like garbage and makes fun of his club foot, but he doesn't see any self-worth in himself (and he loves her, inexplicably), so he lets her treat him like garbage, until she dumps him for another man, and then he falls for a more respectable girl...only to be pulled back into Mildred's lure when another guy dumps her & she needs money or assurance of her worth, and he goes back to her.

This happens a couple of times in the movie.  The strange thing about this movie is that it's based on a truly classic novel (one I haven't read, as Maugham's novels are always a bit of a headache to get through considering he frequently puts himself in the book), but it's not all that original in its execution.  We never entirely get the idea of why Carey is obsessed with Mildred.  Davis, though attractive, is not glamorous or traditionally beautiful like the women who are cast as her "competition" in this film, and she treats Carey poorly.  One might assume in a different era that she had manipulated him through sex (so he was willing to put up with the mistreatment), but in 1934 that's not going to find its way into the plot, so we're left with a perplexing central question here.  We know what Mildred gets out of this (reassurance, food, cash), but not Philip.  This lack of a central question, the repetitive nature of the plot, and Howard's milquetoast performance all add up to kind of a rudimentary movie.

The one thing worth noting in the film is Davis, who finally gets to show off the range that she'd eventually exhibit in movies like Now, Voyager and All About Eve.  It's easy to see why audiences at the time were mesmerized-this is Davis showing what she's capable of, and she's playing a character unlike any other of the era.  She's cruel, loose, indifferent, and horny-it's hard to imagine any other actress of the 1930's even being able to play such a woman.  It does feel, sometimes, like they are awarding the role with this "nomination" more than Davis, or giving it to Davis' potential-she doesn't offer much insight into Mildred's world, and is more at home with the shocking comebacks than she is with trying to make Mildred feel authentic, but it's showy and delicious.  This isn't Davis' best performance, but if I'd seen it in 1934 it would have felt like something seismic; the world was about to recognize one of the great stars of all time, and thus it's not surprising that Oscar felt they needed to bend the rules once she didn't make it into the nominations.