That was an excellent one.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's a little hard to watch this one, just as it was a little hard to read the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Leslie Howard plays the sensitive, club-footed young man who falls for a lower-class, vulgar woman who manipulates and exploits him time and time again. Bette Davis plays the woman brilliantly, and for her performance I could have notched up my rating half a star. The movie has one scene worth watching in particular – the one where she viciously rips into him after he tells her that she disgusts him. Her response: "Me?! I disgust you? You, you, you're too fine! You'll have none of me, but you'll sit here all night looking at your naked females...You cad! You dirty swine! I never cared for you, not once. I was always makin' a fool of ya. You bored me stiff! I hated ya! It made me sick when I had to let ya kiss me. I only did it because ya begged me. Ya hounded me and drove me crazy! And after you kissed me, I always used to wipe my mouth! WIPE MY MOUTH! I made up for it. For every kiss, I had a laugh. We laughed at ya, Miller and me, and Griffith and me, we laughed at ya! Because you were such a mug, a mug, a mug! You know what you are? You gimpy-legged monster? You're a cripple! A cripple! A cripple!" Despite that, he STILL returns back to her (arrgh), which is disagreeable to watch, even though he has a benign acceptance about being doomed to love her, just as a much friendlier woman is doomed to love him. And so it goes. The movie would firmly establish Bette Davis as an actress, and rightfully so, though she was snubbed by the Academy. I found it interesting to read later that there was such an uproar over it that the Academy president said write-in votes could be cast, and Davis received enough to finish ahead of one of the nominees, but not enough to beat Claudette Colbert who would win for 'It Happened One Night' (the process would be changed the following year). Unfortunately, Davis can't completely overcome the masochism of the story, or Leslie Howard's somewhat wooden performance.

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.

Of Human Bondage is one of these old movies that fell into the public domain by lack of copyright renewal, therefore it is widely available and when I saw that it had both Bette Davis - who I enjoyed in All About Eve (1950) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) with her characteristic gaze; and Leslie Howard who was in Gone with the Wind (1939) but also in the lesser known The Petrified Forest (1936), a friend and supporter of Humphrey Bogart he helped him rise to fame.In the film, Philip Carey is a young English man living in Paris hoping to become a painter. One night a man who he asked for advice tells Philip that he is talentless and needs to find another meaning to his life. Philip decides to become a doctor, however, a club foot severely impends on his self-esteem and confidence . When Philip goes to a café and sees the young flirtatious Mildred with another patron, he falls in love immediately. Mildred turns out to be really cold towards Philip and only uses him to go to the theater when it pleases her, while still seeing the man of the restaurant. Nonetheless, Philip decides to ask her to marry him but Mildred prevents it by saying she is already getting married. A few months later, Philip finds himself in a similar situation where a woman, Norah, loves him but he doesn't love her back. When Mildred reappears, broke, pregnant and alone, Philip can't help it and helps her, leaving Norah pondering about what happened to him. Philip and Mildred are unable to live together yet their paths will cross many times and again.The best thing in the movie has to be Bette Davis' performance of the cold and cynical Mildred. She is despicably perfect in her vanity. The main issue I had with the film is probably a very personal one, but it's the fact that a man falls desperately in love with a woman. I don't believe in such a thing. Now, I do believe a woman can take advantage of a man in this very same way, but Philip felt too at loss with his own feelings that I found it hard to believe--especially because of the fact that while Mildred is absent from Philip's life, he gladly partake in another woman's life, with or without shared feelings that remains to be seen.The dialogues are very clever, particularly the discourse which inspired the movie title about human bondage. I wish there were more to be analyzed from the line of work of Philip who goes from painting nude women to medical student to business man without particular choices, as if on railtracks. What pleased me the most was the character of Mildred, it was powerful and weak at the same time. A thin line that makes characters real.I liked: Strong female lead. Cyclic. Pride and vanity - a downfall.I disliked: Filming letters is annoying for the plot, I sometimes couldn't decipher them. The role of the child. Last scene with blocked out sound.73/100 Not your typical romance, fortunately carried out by two grand actors of the 30's.Read more reviews at: www.theordinaryreview.blogspot.com

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.