Hearts in Bondage (1936) User Reviews

A good story

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 16 March 2017]

Presumably the hearts in bondage are the friends Kenneth Reynolds and Raymond Jordan who are in the Navy but due to the forthcoming Civil War have to separate for what they perceive to be a higher cause. One staying in the North and one fighting for the South. They eventually meet in battle, not in the ordinary way but in two new ironclad battleships, the Merrimac and the Monitor. One of the friends will survive the militarily historic encounter.

This is the only film directed by Lew Ayres and it isn't bad. There are some fine dolly shots, the model work for the ships is good and the battle at the end is excitingly staged. Unfortunately the print I saw was not in good shape so the good cinematography did not receive full justice.

It would have been better for Lew Ayres to have played Kenneth Reynolds. James Dunn is adequate but Ayres would have added more intensity. Fritz Leiber as the irascible John Ericsson is very good. The always luminous Mae Clarke has a role that doesn't stretch her talents. The rest of the cast are OK. Frank McGlynn Sr. is spookily like Abraham Lincoln.

A good story plainly told with a well filmed battle scene to finish.

Their separate ways

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 30 June 2014]

Lew Ayres directed Hearts In Bondage and with a title like that you would think it was some tender romantic story. Romance there is in this film about a pair of naval officers, best friends who go their separate ways when the Civil War starts. It was like that in many families at the time. But all this is set against the backdrop of a fairly accurate retelling of the Monitor and Merrimac engagement in Chesapeake Bay, the great battle of the ironclads.

James Dunn and David Manners are the two officers in question. Dunn in fact is engaged to Mae Clarke who is the sister of Manners. And Manners is pledged to Charlotte Henry who is the daughter of Henry B. Walthall who resigns his naval commission when Virginia secedes and goes with the Confederacy.

Dunn is also the nephew of the real John Ericson who designed the Monitor. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles is played by Irving Pichel and Frank McGlyn does his obligatory Abraham Lincoln portrayal.

The romance is touching and doesn't get in the way of the action. For 1936 and for the fact that the studio was a B one, Republic Pictures did not do a bad job with the action scenes with miniatures.

Ayres gets fine performances out of his ensemble cast which includes as Monitor crew members Ed Gargan, Gabby Hayes, and J.M.Kerrigan.

This film was a real find.

Early History Effort

[johndunbar-580-920543 · 7/10 · 8 October 2014]

What those who trash this film fail to point out is that the film was one of the earliest attempt to make a movie about an historical event. As such, it can be forgiven minor inaccuracies but overall it was an accurate and informative movie. For those movie goers that didn't read history books, this was their first introduction to the topic and they couldn't help but learn something about that event in history.

The film makers did a pretty good job of touching upon all the important issues (such as the confusion about what to do about the encroachment of threatening secessionists against the Gosport Naval Yard) that affected the eventual clash of ironclads. And generally, despite the aesthetic flaws that reviewers point out, it was in important movie in the history of film.

Worth a look.

A little early day hokey but worth a watch.

[padutchland-1 · 2 June 2006]

This movie was made in 1936 and so we have to cut early movies a break since they were setting the standards for later improvements. Hearts in Bondage had some obvious miniatures but the special effects of naval battle were really good for the time. James Dunn was always a good actor, but somehow the military man part didn't seem to fit quite right. He was always great as character parts where he was the nice guy and I remember him in several Shirley Temple movies and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. I saw that George Hayes and Ben Alexander were going to be in this. I never did pick out Ben Alexander (played opposite Jack Webb's Joe Friday on Dragnet) but there was no mistaking the voice of Gabby Hayes when he came into the scene. He played a squirrelly kind of part playing off Dunn in jail and then on the crew. Even though the part was strange, it is always a pleasure to see Hayes work. Mae Clark, whom you will remember as the woman that Cagney pushed a grapefruit into her face, did a decent job as Dunn's girlfriend. But it was one of those parts where just about anyone could have done it. The man who played Abraham Lincoln, Frank McGlynn, looked so much like Lincoln you believed it was him. He only had a few lines here or there but made the most of them. Western bit part players could be seen in this. Smiley Burnett was just part of the crew but he later teamed up with Gene Autry and you will remember him with the froggy voice. Another bit part in this was Charles King who (killed many times as the villain in a long list of westerns). Many more good actors involved and, although not on the list of better movies, it is still worth watching.

The Republic has gone with the wind!

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 31 July 2014]

Sometimes a barking mutt can prove to be a thoroughbred, and in the case of this Civil War era tale of brothers in spirit split because of a conflict beyond their control, that thoroughbred wins the race. James Dunn and David Manners end up on opposite sides of the split and face various conflicts as they fight for a cause they don't always understand. The storyline is a bit thin but so well presented that the short-comings are easy to overlook. Dunn, a versatile actor best known for comedy and equally adept at drama, is the focus of the majority of the story, involved with the lovely Mae Clarke who just happens to the Manner's sister. Charlotte Henry is the girl whom Manners loves. There is a lot of glowering of the old South with its gracious manners overshadowing the evils of slavery and even a brief appearance by Abraham Lincoln himself. Sea battles are intense and well done, so if this lacks in exploration of the war's issues, it makes up for that with great detail in other ways.

Civil War brouhaha

[Spuzzlightyear · 6/10 · 9 January 2006]

Although I'm not really too sure how much of this is true or not, this Civil War drama tells of how of course, the war Tour Friendships Apart and the building of the Monitor, a huge bulking ship. Although the document about how the Montor came about and the building and the actual deployment is quite interesting, the whole love story and the dilemma one lady has when two women she has, her brother, and her boyfriend are on two sides and going to war against each other is a bit silly. Again, I'm sure some of it is fictionalized, as Abe Lincoln is in there talking to the main characters about lives lost etc. But all in all, this is a competent, if somewhat dragging effort from Lew Ayres, who should know something about war films, what after being blown to smithereens in All Quiet on the Western Front.

Blue Turning Grey Over You

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 25 January 2009]

In 1861, United States naval officer James Dunn (as Kenneth Reynolds) courts southern born Mae Clarke (as Constance Jordan), the sister of his best friend, and fellow officer, David Manners (as Raymond Jordan). When Civil War breaks out, Mr. Manners elects to join up with the Confederate States, alongside his home state of Virginia. Inevitably, Mr. Dunn must go into battle against his former friend, as sister Clarke begs him not to…

"Hearts in Bondage" reveals actor Lew Ayres to be a competent, promising director. Dunn, Clarke, and Manners don't do much for the admittedly predictable story. For awhile, it almost seemed like Henry B. Walthall was going to fight on the side of the North, but he defected to his "Birth of a Nation" roots. "Mammy" Etta McDaniel looks remarkably like her sister Hattie. George "Gabby" Hayes and Smiley Burnette are among the well spotted character actors.

**** Hearts in Bondage (5/26/36) Lew Ayres ~ James Dunn, Mae Clarke, David Manners, Henry B. Walthall

Absolutely wretched...wretched from start to finish!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 1 November 2011]

Without a doubt, this movie has among the worst dialog I have ever heard in a film--and I have reviewed well over 11,000 films! So much of what the people say actually sounds as if the script was written by a 12 year-old! It's filled with platitudes, schmaltz and clichés--all of which make NONE of the film seem the least bit real. It's a shame, really, as the idea of the film is great. After all, how many films have celebrated the most amazing naval battle of the Civil War--the fight between the CSS Virginia and the USS Merrimack. Unfortunately, while it is great that the film is about this battle, it also is jam-packed full of historical inaccuracies--not the least of which is that every time they talk about the Virginia, they call it the Merrimack--the name given to the ship originally when it was a Union ship. But, after having been burned and sunk, the hull was used to create the Virginia--and its crew certainly would NOT keep referring to her as the Merrimack! But this isn't all, so much of the story is pure hogwash--and about as much is right about the film as is wrong--including the whole silly back story about the court martial.

The bottom line is that aside from the theme, it is a cringe-worthy film. Not only is the dialog dumb, but at the end of the film good 'ol Abe Lincoln himself stops by to have a nice little chat with the hero and his conflicted girlfriend. I HATE when films toss in Abe Lincoln as a cheap plot device--another reason I also hated "Of Human Hearts"--another dopey Civil War film hindered by schmaltzy dialog and a complete waste of good actors.

By the way, this film was directed by Lew Ayers--the actor. Now we can see why he's know to us as an actor and not a director!

The ships are the only reason to see this creaky pot boiler that retells the story of the Civil War clash of ironclads

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 28 May 2007]

Pot boiling melodrama that is nominally about the Civil War clash of Ironclads but is really about the struggle for redemption by a naval officer with a crush on his best friends sister.

James Dunn plays a a naval officer who refuses to burn the ship Merrimac when the war between the north and South breaks out. Dishonorably discharged he tries to make his way back into the fight while wooing the sister of his best friend who's gone to fight for the South. A chance for redemption comes when he and his uncle come upon the idea for the design of the Monitor.

I don't know what to make of this film. Much of the film is talky romance or stiff historical discussion about the war and the film flounders around like a beached whale. The film doesn't really come to life until the ironclads finally show up some fifty odd minutes into the film. While the battle sequences are great and almost make up for the rest of the film, they still aren't enough to save the rest of the film. You'll remember the ships but little else

A cheesebox on a raft

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 8/10 · 3 July 2004]

'Hearts in Bondage' is a Civil War drama placing fictional characters at the centre of real events. First, some background: in the first month of the American Civil War (April 1861), the Confederate navy attacked some Union ships at Gosport shipyard (near Norfolk, Virginia). The Union steam frigate USS Merrimac was sunk in this engagement. The Confederates later raised the hull and refitted it as an armourclad. Meanwhile - at Greenpoint, Brooklyn - US naval engineer John Ericsson was building an ironclad warship, the USS Monitor. On 9th March 1862, these two vessels squared off in an engagement that has been known ever since as 'the Monitor and the Merrimac'. In strict accuracy, the refitted Merrimac had been christened the CSS Virginia. But, among the other spoils of war, the winning side gets to pick the nomenclature. So, the Virginia is still known as the Merrimac, just as a certain Civil War battleground is now known as Bull Run (the name the Union favoured) rather than Manassas (the Confederates' name).

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT. James Dunn and Mae Clarke (badly miscast) portray lovers circa 1861 who meet for trysts on the banks of the Potomac near Washington. As the nation gins up for the Civil War, their relationship is threatened because he's a US Navy officer but her brother is sympathetic to the Confederate cause. The brother is played by David Manners, a Canadian actor who was very British in his on-screen demeanour (Manners claimed to be a descendant of William the Conqueror!), so it's distressing to see him here as a son of the South, y'all.

Dunn serves aboard the Merrimac during the battle of Norfolk. When the battle goes in the Confederates' favour, Dunn is ordered to set fire to his own ship so she doesn't fall into Confederate hands. Instead, Dunn sinks the ship so that (he hopes) the Union can raise her later. (The movie gets its facts slightly wrong here: in reality, the Merrimac *was* fired, and she burnt to her waterline. When the Confederate navy raised her hull, the Merrimac's ammunition - in watertight casings - was intact and undamaged, and was promptly added to the Confederacy's ordnance.) When the Confederates raise the Merrimack, Dunn is disgraced for having disobeyed a direct order.

The fictional character played by Dunn is the nephew of (real-life) naval engineer John Ericsson. To get back into the navy's good graces, Dunn goes to Brooklyn and assists his uncle in the construction of the Monitor. And Dunn is aboard the Monitor during her historic battle with the Merrimac. Meanwhile, guess who's aboard the Merrimac: yes, David Manners. After Manners gets killed, Dunn (his reputation restored) meets with Clarke once again. Their tryst is interrupted by none other than Abraham Lincoln, played by Frank McGlynn (who specialised in playing Lincoln). I found it slightly ludicrous that Lincoln would be walking about in wartime with no Secret Service escort - especially on the banks of the Potomac - but I guess it's possible. He offers a few encouraging words to the lovers, then saunters off while the soundtrack plays 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic'.

The most intriguing thing about 'Hearts in Bondage' is that it's directed by Lew Ayres, an actor who (in real life) was extremely antipathetic towards warfare. (He was a conscientious objector during World War Two.) Ayres's direction of this material is workmanlike but not in any way distinctive. The scenes of naval warfare are staged with miniatures, but look quite convincing. The USS Monitor was famously described as 'a cheesebox on a raft', so the miniature ship here (a rotating turret on a flat platform) is crude but strongly resembles the crude design of the actual Monitor. Fritz Lieber gives a dignified performance as the real-life John Ericsson. (Full disclosure: Lieber's son Fritz Jnr was a friend of mine.) Gabby Hayes and Charlotte Henry do not do well in their roles, and Irving Pichel is a bit too wild-eyed. James Dunn is quite good in his role here; notwithstanding his Academy Award, Dunn is a very underrated actor. Overall, I'll rate this movie 8 out of 10. It's hokum, but enjoyable hokum.

Gabby's ardent fans might like this offering - but not me!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 16 December 2017]

The story synopsis of Republic's 1936 "Hearts in Bondage" certainly reads like a vintage noir: A career U.S. Navy man is forced to shoot down his best friend (and the brother of his fiancée) when the friend rather stupidly leads a no-chance-of-success assault against "The Monitor" during the Civil War.

To add further appeal to this offering, it was actually directed by America's most famous anti-war protester, Lew Ayres. In point of fact, it is the first of only three films (the others were documentaries) the prolific actor directed.

But what a disappointment the movie actually turns out to be. The direction is mostly static and perfunctory, the hearty "acting" of eager-beaver boy scout, James Dunn (who propels himself into almost every scene) is simply painful to watch and hear, and even the action climax is to some extent subordinated to a heap of cheap laughs while George Hayes does his infamous "Gabby" impersonation.

The Alpha DVD is not a great transferand rates 7 out of ten at the most.

We are all brothers

[evening1 · 5/10 · 12 November 2022]

"Dedicated to the USS Monitor and the men who fought for and against her"

What a lovely beginning to a thought-provoking Civil War drama.

This film points to the insanity of how war pits one human against another just as worthy. On a more micro level, it challenges assumptions that the Yanks and Rebels fought only on land.

Here we have the story of Northerner Kenneth Reynolds (James Dunn), his best friend, Raymond Jordan (David Manners), who is loyal to his home state of Virginia, and Ray's pacifist sister, Constance (Mae Clark). When war separates the buddies, crushing Connie's heart, nobody really wins.

The Monitor made history in an 1862 sea battle with another ironclad, the CSS Virginia. The film shows President Lincoln, apparently in the days before bodyguards, strolling alone beside the Potomac, offering words of counsel ("Ideals, a costly thing").

Along the way we hear some lovely music of the era, from a funereal spiritual to sprightly marching tunes.

I discovered this film in a roundabout way, after some web surfing inspired by a naval-history show on C-Span. I'm glad I caught it.

A Historic Naval Battle in the American Civil War

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 23 March 2015]

This historic battle of Hampton Roads in Virginia in 1862 forever changed naval warfare, and Lew Ayres' first and only film as a director "Hearts in Bondage" would be the only movie for fifty-five years about this landmark encounter. Altogether, despite some of its fictional aspects, primarily in the lead characters, this Republic Pictures' movie remains remarkably faithful to the events. You'll be hard pressed to find historical inaccuracies, and those that exist are minimal. Ayres and scenarists Bernard Schubert of "Mark of the Vampire" and Olive Cooper of "Streamline Express" appropriated "One in A Million" writer Karl Brown's adaptation of Wallace MacDonald's original story and show what prompted this American Civil War episode. On the eve of the warfare, the Union Army orders Lieutenant Kenneth Reynolds (James Dunn) to scuttle the USS Merrimac because the Confederacy is poised to take possession of the Gosport Navy Yard. Reynolds refuses to follow orders since he has received nothing in writing. His actions prompt a court-marshal and he is stripped of his rank. Eventually, he meets his uncle John Ericcson (Fritz Lieber) and they create an ironclad to fight the Merrimac that the Confederates has armor-plated. One of the others aboard the CSS Merrimac (actually it was christened the Virginia) is Raymond Jordan (David Manners of "Dracula") who was one of Reynolds' best friend. Furthermore, Reynolds was courting Jordan's sister Constance (Mae Clarke) when the war broke out. Jordan resigns his rank in the Union Army and goes to fight for Virginia. Eventually, after about 53 minutes of carefully laid exposition, the two ironclads clash with each other, but not before the Merrimac has inflicted destruction on three ships. Ultimately, the Hampton Roads battle was fought to a standstill. Reynolds kills his best friend with cannon fire when Jordan tries to lead a boarding party to capture the Monitor. The miniatures look terrific. Although Reynolds is a fictional protagonist, he paints himself into a dramatic corner for his defiance to carry out orders. Several actual historic figures, such as Abraham Lincoln--turn up in this nimble 72-minute epic. Civil War fanatics should enjoy this one.