FAQ

Clubfooted medical student Philip Carey (Laurence Harvey) falls for Cockney waitress Mildred Rogers (Kim Novak). Even though she scorns him, makes fun of him, and goes off with his best friend Griffiths (Jack Hedley), it is Philip to whom she turns whenever she is in need, and he always helps her out...even after she has a baby and turns to prostitution. However, Philip's obsession with Mildred affects his health, his personal relationships, and his ability to tend to his medical studies.

Of Human Bondage is also a 1915 novel by British playwright W. Somerset Maugham [1874-1965]. The novel was adapted for the movie by British screenwriter Bryan Forbes. This was the third screen adaptation of Maugham's novel, preceded by Of Human Bondage (1934) (1934) and Of Human Bondage (1946) (1948).

After graduating from medical school and setting up his practice, Philip is surprised when one of his patients turns out to be Mildred, looking gaunt and haggard and complaining of a sour throat. After running some tests, he diagnoses syphilis. He pays her a visit at the dreary brothel where she is now living alone, her baby having died previously, but Mildred refuses his offer of help. Several days/weeks later, as Philip is making rounds, he is informed that Mildred has been admitted to the hospital and that she is dying. He goes to see her but, with her dying breath, she makes him promise only to give her a 'proper funeral like a lady.' Later, as Philip is packing up, with every intention of leaving the area, Thorpe Athelny (Roger Livesey) stops by to convince him to stay and marry his daughter Sally (Nanette Newman), who is in love with him. However, Philip is convinced that he has been a failure and likens his feelings toward Mildred as 'the worst kind of disease...one that doesn't show on the surface.' Athelny pooh-poohs him and assures him that, if Sally has her eye on him, he'd better learn to live with it. In the final scene, Phillip watches Mildred's coffin being lowered into the ground. As he leaves the cemetery, Sally approaches him.