after 21 movie and three year of work in hollywood bette davis finally get a role she claim a her own and which put her a a force to be reckon with . a mildred rogers and davis burst forth with a completely unsympathetic role of a slutty waitress who become the target of leslie howard affection and and already eager to sink her teeth into a role like this and she have no qualm of the awful thing her character be mean to do throughout the course of the film and the awful transformation she would undergo . it also have be widely noted that her performance here and one of the few thing that make this slightly uneven movie watchable and have be the one to remember even after two remake and the scene where she rip into howard have make cinema history . at circa 85 minute and the story move at a nice pace and tell the story of philip carey ( howard ) a his life cross that of the destructive mildred rogers over and over again . howard and davis chemistry be all but non existent davis sustain in an interview much later in life she personally do not care much for howard iciness towards her and that help her act even bad ( in character ) towards him a mildred . all the same and the two seem awkward with one another while their scene together remain stiff and only salvage by the ferocious acidity davis bring to her line and her own nervous presence . then again and cromwell direction have a certain stiltedness about itself that fail to come through at time he try to fill in some space ( whenever davis be not there ) with dissolve and montage indicate the passing of time ( a calendar superimpose over a changing france dee ) . all much in the style back then . this be before technicality and complicate camera angle come into be and and in essence and the visual story be a simplified and bare essential translation of the somerset maugham novel which be say a lot and since at 600 page and of human bondage would have be indeed hard to film even then . storywise and it feel that philip carey may be something of a glutton for punishment and since there be no discernible and sexual attraction between he and mildred and to compound that and mildred never hide her displeasure from the get go . howard performance never seem to go through much external emotion his eye be constantly sad and his expression never veers too far away from lose ( he could almost be a distant cousin to william hurt in the accidental tourist deject and hurt and and absolutely passive ) and but this be possibly a part of his character and the reason he fail to see that other woman ( play by kay johnson and france dee ) be make themselves vulnerable to unrequited affection . interestingly and johnson norah and once she realize carey will never fall for her and be the one who sum the story up with her observation that people be bind to other people she be bind to carey a carey be bind to mildred and and mildred herself be bind to miller ( or men who fit the role of provider ) . in her short but memorable scene and she the one who hold the essence of the story moral .