'Everything in my career dates BB (Before Bondage) and AB (After Bondage)', Bette Davis is quoted as saying. John Cromwell directed this 1934 version of Of Human Bondage which is based on the Somerset Maugham novel. Although considered early Bette Davis, she had already done over 20 films, but the camera picked up something in her here that would spawn a Hollywood legend. Her cockney accent is almost laughable by today's thespian standards, but her representation as the coy waitress Mille who proves a cold-hearted, selfish and manipulative slut, is a towering example of character personification. In fact, regarded as one of Davis' best and easily the one that established her initial big-screen presence... one which would continue for the next 50 years. The plot is simple enough - an exceedingly pleasant and sensitive artistic soul, Philip (Leslie Howard), becomes obsessed in the extreme with the alluring and aloof Mille briefly forgoing his medical career to control his love pangs for her.  Always painfully aware of his club-foot birth defect, which appeared to be at the root of his diminished self-confidence, Philip is a stationary target for the wrong woman. It was his emotional inadequacy that Mille unknowingly utilized keeping Philip under her abusive control to support her at her whim. The painfully honest story is all too recognizable and the pre-code freedom (released just before Hays code-restrictions) of the film added an intelligent rendering of the classic novel, easily surpassing the 46' and 64' remakes. A massively impacting tale of human frailty, the devastating power of love, and the extreme intricacies of personal interaction and bonding. A masterpiece in every sense.

Gary W. Tooze