“Hollywood always wanted me to be pretty, but I fought for realism.” Bette Davis

See the film that made Bette Davis a star!

The actors’ actor and legendary icon Bette Davis will be gracing our screens with her breakout performance in W. Somerset Maugham’s masterpiece Of Human Bondage released in June 1934, just 3 days before censorship came into effect.

Phillip (Leslie Howard) is a sensitive soul who abandons his hopes of being an artist to enrol in medical school, but fatally falls in love with a manipulative and predatory waitress named Mildred (Bette Davis) which threatens to ruin his career and his life.

Life magazine wrote that it was the greatest performance by an actress ever recorded on screen.

“A brilliant film series at the Cinema Museum celebrating the fierce and liberated women of early cinema” (Time Out London)

From the period of 1930 to 1934, before the introduction of censorship (known as the Hays Code) Women were depicted in roles with a frankness and sex-positivity that remains rare even today. These newly independent women pushed gender boundaries as they pursued their own economic freedom and excitement, defying the previous Victorian ideals of domesticity, sexual purity and religion. Hollywood soon caught on and began to represent these women on screen, and each month we celebrate a different woman from that era.

Come join us in this beautifully historic Grade II listed venue for a discussion, then screening of the film and our exclusive raffle!

“My father warned me about men & booze, but he never mentioned a word about women & cocaine” – Tallulah Bankhead.

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Doors open at 18.30, for a 19.30 start.

Refreshments will be available in our licensed cafe/bar.

TICKETS & PRICING

Reserved tickets £10 available from Eventbrite. Tickets will also be available on the door on the night. Concessions available on the door with valid ID. Phone bookings for this event cannot be made via the Cinema Museum.