Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

hwg1957-102-265704 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.

zardoz-13 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.

dbborroughs 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

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre '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.