Hearts in Bondage is a 1936 American black-and-white war drama film directed by Lew Ayres for Republic Pictures. Set during the American Civil War, the film depicts the Union Navy's deliberate sinking of , the Confederate States Navy's salvage and refitting of the ship as the ironclad CSS Virginia, the Union Navy's development of the ironclad to counter Virginia, and the subsequent engagement of the two vessels in the Battle of Hampton Roads. It also features many historical characters, including United States President Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and Confederate States President Jefferson Davis. The fictional plot, starring James Dunn, Mae Clarke, and David Manners, pits two friends and future brothers-in-law on opposite sides of the North–South conflict, dividing their families and threatening their survival. Hearts in Bondage is notable as a rare example of a Hollywood film to depict the naval battles of the American Civil War.

Plot

Lieutenant Kenneth Reynolds and his good friend, fellow naval officer Raymond Jordan, go ice-skating with their girls in anticipation of being called to war. Reynolds' beau, Constance (Connie) Jordan, who is Raymond's sister, accepts Kenneth's marriage proposal. Meanwhile, at a government war council discussing the secession of six Southern states to form the Confederacy, two officials from Virginia are asked to declare their loyalty to the Union. Captain Buchanan resigns from the Navy to join the Confederates, while Commodore Jordan remains. A similar loyalty test confronts Raymond, who does not want to be separated from his fiancée, Captain Buchanan's daughter Julie, and leaves to join the Confederates in Virginia. Kenneth decides to stay with the Union and is put in charge of . When the ship is attacked by Confederate troops at Gosport Navy Yard, Kenneth receives orders to burn the ship, but defies the orders and sinks the vessel to save the hull and engines. He is court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the Union Navy. He cannot find another job because everyone considers him a traitor, so he goes to help his uncle John Ericsson complete his new design of USS ''Monitor'', an ironclad warship.