Of Human Bondage

A lot of people must not have read the book. None of the versions of this movie is close to the book simply because Mildred does not even show up in the book until the middle. She is a important character but not the main character. I believe people misread the Philip character because they leave so much out about his life before he met met Mildred. And there is the flaw of all of the versions. Someone mentioned that Bette Davis was not pretty enough for Philip to be obsessed with. Well in the book it mentions she was not pretty. Actually Davis is the one character out of all of the versions that comes close to the character in the book. The way he describes Mildred is the way Davis looks to a tee.

In the book Philip was not a nice guy. He had a chip on his shoulder because of his foot and he treated people badly. He treated the family with contempt who took him in as a child. He would make nasty remarks about people who wanted to befriend him. One woman even commits suicide over him. We see none of this in the movie. So I see Mildred differently. And his obsession makes sense because of the book. He is not the sympathetic man we see in the movie.

I believe Henried is better in the role then Howard. Parker is way too pretty for the Mildred part. Even though she is a good actress here her good looks get in the way. Henreid is age appropriate for the film because in the book he took a lot of years off discovering what he wanted to do. He even spent time in Germany. Sally is the character that betrays the book the most. In the book she much more outgoing and she sleeps with Philip even though were just good friends. She was the only woman in the book that Philip had a relationship with that he did not destroy even though he almost did. I like Janis Paige in the role. I believe this is a better version then the 34 version, even though Davis is better in the Mildred role. But once again I must mention if people are looking for something that is close to the book none of the versions are.