Lew AyresHearts In Bondage (1936)

Lieutenant Kenneth Reynolds, a Naval officer, falls in love with Constance Jordan. Ken's friends with Raymond Jordan, also in the Navy; he's in love with Julie Buchanan. Captain Buchanan, however, sides with the Confederacy when his home state Virginia secedes, while Constance and Ken stay loyal to the U.S.

When ordered to burn the Merrimack with the rest of Gosport Navy Yard as the Confederate militia advance, Ken instead sinks it. He's courtmartialed and thrown out of the Navy. Ken then goes to work for his uncle, John Ericsson, to work on the Monitor. After getting into, and (thanks to some strategic mint juleps) out of, a contract debacle, the Monitor is approved and with some difficulty, launched.

Ken then fights and wins a place aboard the Monitor despite his dishonourable discharge. Now he has to fight the Merrimack and a horrible twist of fate, while trying to reconcile Constance and getting some help from a _highly_ unlikely source.

[Synopsis by uniQ.]

You can find more information regarding this film on its IMDb page.

This item is part of the collection: Feature Films

Director: Lew Ayres
Producer: Nat Levine
Production Company: Republic Pictures Corporation
Audio/Visual: sound, b&w
Keywords: drama

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Write a review Reviews

Downloaded 9,097 times Average Rating:

Reviewer: Spuzz - - January 9, 2006
Subject: Civil War brouhaha

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.

Reviewer: bobsluckycat - - November 29, 2004
Subject: A Pacifist War Story?

Directed by Lew Ayres, this civil war naval drama about the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac, has a lot of historical background and a lot of pacifist sentiment, the battles at sea not withstanding. I saw this on TV in the 50's. I don't remember what I saw then except that Smiley Burnette and Gabby Hayes were in the cast. In fact on second viewing anybody and everybody on the Mascot/Republic lot at the time does a bit. That makes it fun in itself. This was Nat Levine's second "A" feature at Republic and his last as well. It has everything in it that would be Republic "A" picture trademarks in the future, long after Levine would be gone. The
broad scope, the Lydecker special effects, the large cast of "B" players. James Dunn is the star and he's quite good. The pacifist message through the voice of Abraham Lincoln and other players doesn't fit the picture. The Title also is all wrong. Sounds too much like a soap opera, which in some ways it is. Not "The Monitor And The Merrimac" which would have been a more succinct title. I believe this probably was also a failure upon release and I'm guessing here that it did not make back it's original negative cost. Interesting oddity. Good production values. Worth a look.

Credits

Cast
James Dunn .... Kenneth
Mae Clarke .... Constance
David Manners .... Raymond
Charlotte Henry .... Julie
Henry B. Walthall .... Buchanan
Fritz Leiber .... Ericsson
George Irving .... Cmmdre. Jordan
Irving Pichel .... Secretary of War Sumner Welles
J.M. Kerrigan .... Paddy
Frank McGlynn Sr. .... Abraham Lincoln
Ben Alexander .... Eggleston
Oscar Apfel .... Capt. Gilman
Clay Clement .... Worden
Edward Gargan .... McPherson
Russell Hicks .... Pillsbury
George 'Gabby' Hayes .... Ezra (as George Hayes)
Douglas Wood .... Adm. Farragut
Bodil Rosing .... Mrs. Adams
Erville Alderson .... Jefferson Davis
John Hyams .... Bushnell
Etta McDaniel .... Mammy
Warner P. Richmond .... Bucko
Lloyd Ingraham .... Timekeeper