William Somerset Maugham


Biography

Life Events

Videos

Movie Clip

Sadie Thompson (1928) -- (Movie Clip) It's Bound To Be Worse Tomorrow The quick pictorial introductions of the key characters, Lionel Barrymore and Blanche Frederici as the puritanical Davidsons, Charles Lane the more worldly MacPhail, then Gloria Swanson, the producer in the title role, in the first feature based on the provocative Somerset Maugham story, co-starring and directed by Raoul Walsh, Sadie Thompson, 1928.
Letter, The (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Just Out Of Prison On the evening of her acquittal, Leslie (Bette Davis) finds a dagger outside her bedroom, then is dragged into the party by Frieda (Dorothy Joyce), in William Wyler's The Letter, 1940, from W. Somerset Maugham's play.
Rain (1932) -- (Movie Clip) I Came From Kansas Once Myself Director Lewis Milestone doing a roll call introducing W. Somerset Maugham's characters, notably Dr. MacPhail (Matt Moore), "reformer" Davidson (Walter Huston), innkeeper Horn (Guy Kibbee) and finally the star Joan Crawford as "Sadie Thompson," in Rain, 1932.
Rain (1932) -- (Movie Clip) If You Gotta Repent Without her usual provocative attire, days after being persuaded by the Christian “reformer” Davidson (Walter Huston, en route in a seafaring canoe to join her) to return to San Francisco to serve time as repentance, Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford) visits with marine O’Hara (William Gargan), himself fresh after getting out of the brig in American Samoa, who’s against the idea, in Lewis Milestone’s Rain, 1932, from the W.S. Maugham story.
Letter, The (1940) -- (Movie Clip) What Are You Getting Out Of This? Smarmy native legal assistant Ong (Sen Yung) puts his self-interested squeeze on his boss Howard (James Stephenson), arranging the blackmail deal in William Wyler's The Letter, 1940, starring Bette Davis.
Letter, The (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Who Has The Letter Now? Acquitted killer Leslie (Bette Davis) and her lawyer and reluctant co-conspirator Howard (James Stephenson) finally tell her loyal husband Bob (Herbert Marshall) the truth in The Letter, 1940.
Of Human Bondage (1934) -- (Movie Clip) They All Laugh At You The end of one abortive date, Mildred (Bette Davis) dissing club-footed medical student Philip (Leslie Howard), who obsesses, then faces more cruelty, from John Cromwell's Of Human Bondage, 1934.
Of Human Bondage (1934) -- (Movie Clip) City Of Lost Illusions Opening scenes, Philip Carey (Leslie Howard) in Paris confers with art teacher Flourney (Adrian Rosley) setting events in motion in John Cromwell's still-definitive treatment of Of Human Bondage, 1934, from the W.S. Maugham novel.
Of Human Bondage (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Don't Go Spoofing Me Dunsford (Reginald Sheffield) has brought returned-to-London pal Philip (Leslie Howard) along to help charm waitress Mildred (Bette Davis), their first meeting in Of Human Bondage, 1934, from the W.S. Maugham novel.
Letter, The (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Leslie The famous opening scene starring Bette Davis and the handgun, at a rubber plantation in Malaysia, from William Wyler's The Letter, 1941, from the play by W. Somerset Maugham.
Letter, The (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Mrs. Hammond Wind chimes augment the near-silent Mrs. Hammond (Gale Sondergaard) as she demands her money and something more from Leslie (Bette Davis), lawyer Howard (James Stephenson) and his aide (Sen Yung) in The Letter, 1940.
Painted Veil, The (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Blithering Idiot Alone after her sister's wedding, Austrian Olga (Greta Garbo) with her former schoolmate, Brit doctor Walter (Herbert Marshall), in Richard Boleslawski's The Painted Veil, 1934, from the Somerset Maugham novel.

Bibliography