The Way of All Flesh

The Way of All Flesh (1903) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler which attacks Victorian era hypocracy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of the Pontifex family.

The Way of All Flesh is also a 1927 film that was written by Lajos Biró, Jules Furthman, Julian Johnson and Ernest Maas from a story by Perley Poore Sheehan. The film was directed by Victor Fleming and is unrelated to Butler’s novel.

The film is a melodrama starring Emil Jannings, Belle Bennett and Phyllis Haver. Jannings won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance.

No known copies of this film survive.

The movie was remade in 1940, starring Akim Tamiroff, Gladys George and William Henry.