Bette Davis became a star with her role in this first and best film adaptation of the Somerset Maugham novel of the same name (well worth a read). This was her first nomination for an Academy Award, for her portrayal of Mildred Rogers; a tawdry, sluttish, cockney waitress who bewitches hapless Philip Carey (Leslie Howard, best known for his role as Ashley Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind"). She lost the award, receiving it for her role the following year for "Dangerous", which is generally viewed as a consolation prize.
The supporting cast includes Reginald Denny, Alan Hale Sr. (father of Alan Hale Jr., who was the skipper on the TV series "Gilligan's Isle"), and an angelicly beautiful Frances Dee.
The film starts out with Philip, a failed art student with a clubfoot (about which he is highly sensitive), turning to the study of medicine after facing that he has no artistic talent. Shortly thereafter he meets and quickly becomes obsessed with Mildred, despite her sneering and obvious disdain for him because of his deformity. Her standard response to his affectionate overtures is a chilly "I don't mind." In his dreams Mildred is sweet and kind to him; during real time she uses him, well aware of his affection for her, leaving him for other men and returning when she is down on her luck, ruining his chance for having a career or a normal life with another woman; but he finds himself inexorably drawn to her, even after his love for her has waned, until the day she finally pushes him too far, and he says, "You disgust me."
With those words, the camera turns fully to Mildred, and her facial expression flickers, then shifts from supplication to shock to full-on bitch in a matter of seconds, as she reacts to Philip's statement with a barrage of blood-curdling insults. Bette Davis as Mildred never fails to raise the hair on the back of my neck and arms with her performance, especially in this particular scene.
"Of Human Bondage" remains one of my all-time favorite Davis films along with others such as "The Little Foxes", "The Letter", and "All About Eve".
1 comment:
Hey! I totally agree on everything your saying, Im watching the remeake right now on AMC and I keep thinking to myself, "What have they done?!" But I myself am a huge Lansbury fan, As am I Streep too, But I feel this was not her best, but that said, She did look flawless. I own the original and I absolutley adore it.One of the all time best in my opinon
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