Nonureva Really Surprised!

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

calvinnme After four years of bad sistering and parachute jumping at Universal and Warner Brothers respectively, Bette Davis gets her big chance at tiny RKO playing a completely amoral young woman who thinks she is the taker, using her looks to get what she wants, but ultimately winds up in the gutter because she is the taken not the taker after all, and always has been.Bette Davis allows herself to go from beautiful to disheveled impoverished tuberculosis victim in this film. She is a vision in the first part of the film with those saucer eyes looking over the rim of a champagne glass, a scarecrow at the end. If you have ever read about Miss Davis' upbringing, she was brought up New England puritan all the way. So to play a cockney waitress who is the definition of trollop is pure great acting on her part as well as bravery.Leslie Howard plays the club footed medical student Philip Carey who is a medical student only because he couldn't hack it as an artist. But he is not one to feel sorry for himself. As life time and again knocks him down, he just gets back up and does the best that he can, one step at a time. His weakness is Mildred (Bette Davis) an uneducated cockney waitress whose only asset is beauty. She goes out with him but does not return his devotion, and time after time he picks her up when nobody else will when she falls. And time and again she uses him, takes what she can get, and then leaves him in the lurch for another man. This behavior over time turns Philip's love to disgust. Lesson number one - don't tell a woman who you are letting sleep on your couch and who has a key to your flat that you find her disgusting. Especially when she always gives in to the most vindictive and base instincts possible of a human being.Reginald Owen gives a great performance of a loud loquacious charity ward patient who practically adopts Philip as his son and gives Philip a welcome taste of family. Frances Dee plays Owen's beautiful daughter, who is everything Mildred is not. But somehow it takes years for Carey to think of her romantically. This is never explained, maybe because there is no time in this 80 minute movie to squeeze an entire novel.I'd highly recommend this one. It has everything - great acting, gritty realism, and an unusual story line, all from a low budget studio. And after all of this what did the eventual Queen of Warner's go back to at WB? A role in the mediocre "Housewife" where she isn't given much more to do than wander around looking fabulous in what seems to be a copy of Kay Francis' wardrobe. Grrr . Arrgh.

shiest175 Much has been said regarding Bette Davis's outbreak performance in "Of Human Bondage" and I would certainly never argue it - her acting is magnificent. As is Leslie Howard's ....the two play off of each other perfectly - Howard as the shy, introverted and self-conscious "lonely man" and Davis as the brash, insensitive and malicious waitress. But it's the message of this movie that is so powerful, Davis and Howard are simply the messengers, albeit great ones."Of Human Bondage" is the story of unrequited love, and hopeless bondage to another. Right from the outset, the relationship Between Philip and Mildred is doomed to failure, as is Howard's to Norah after Mildred leaves him. After all - what can one really offer someone whom they do not love? It really makes no difference whether it's Midred's abusive behavior towards Philip - who is basically obsessed with her, or Philip's cool (yet still very caring) indifference towards Norah, who adores him. The end result is the same. Perhaps this movie can only really speak to those that have been through it - but most of us probably have, as this is one of the great tragic human conditions. Person A loves person B, but they love person C, and so it goes.Forget the somewhat dated dialogue and sound quality, and watch a film that transcends most others with powerful acting and an even stronger message.

Red_Identity I'm well aware this was the role that made Bette Davis a star, and was the cause of the Academy allowing write-in nominations. As it is, Davis is fantastic, playing the awful Mildred with such intensity and effective ferociousness that it was no doubt something shocking to see a woman playing back in the day. She's truly incredible here and I think people will only know of the film because of her. But Leslie Howard provides the heart, and you definitely feel for him while still being frustrated with how much he pursues Mildred. This is definitely recommended in more ways than one, and it's a pity that it doesn't seem to be available that much to be able to see.

SilkyWilky A must watch film, I genuinely loved it. Easy to watch and get drawn into, not that dated at all, and a good story we can all relate to.Lots of reviews here waxing lyrical about Bette Davis' bawdy performance, and in general I go along with them, bar her pitiful attempt at a cockney accent.Its worse than Dick van Dykes (Mary Poppins) and I never thought I'd say that about anyone. Dick had a naiive comedic consistency in his americanised version. Bette is all over the place, mainly sounding like a posh girl pretending badly to be cockney and throwing in intonations I've never heard anyone speak. Very false and messed up, and irritating - but that is what she's portraying too, so it kinda works. She was either sheltered and made no attempt to get out and hear how people speak or she wouldn't have dared do what she did, or else she has no accent skills.Beyond the accent, yes, Bette makes the film funky and fun. The other actresses I think perform better, are more convincing character wise. Kay Johnson (Norah) is stiff upper lip British and understated, a mirror to Leslie Howards character, though lighter. Frances Dee (Sally) plays a young girl who accepts her place with a charm and a wisdom beyond her years - and is the heavenly beauty of the film.Watch, enjoy, and indulge in reminiscences of the unrequited loves in your life.