OF HUMAN BONDAGE **

This was the film that basically launched Bette Davis' career. Many people still believe the Oscar she won as Best Actress for 1935's "Dangerous" was in recompense for losing out here. She wasn't actually nominated by the Academy but was put into contention by a write-in ballot. She's Mildred, the slatternly waitress at the centre of W Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" who makes life miserable for the men who come into contact with her, and in particular for Philip, the young medic who worships her, (Leslie Howard, very good).

The problem is that Mildred is meant to be a Cockney and Bette was simply unable to put across the accent, though to be fair she does make a fair stab at a Cockney trying to sound posh. She certainly remains one of the least sympathetic characters in all of fiction and you can see how Davis' performance cemented her 'there's-no-one-better-than-Bette-when-she's-bad' reputation and leaving the accent aside she really is very good.

Indeed, of the three versions of the novel to be filmed this is still the best though none of them do the original justice, (I've never understood why a fine British actress has never been cast in the part). The director, John Cromwell, handles it well enough but he gallops through the plot in under ninety minutes; you feel like you're watching it in shorthand. In a good supporting cast it's Kay Johnson's Nora who almost steals the film from under the noses of the leads but it's too small a part to make that much of an impression. Despite its inadequacies the film itself stands up reasonably well today which only goes to show just how good the source material actually is. Over 80 years later this is still worth seeing.