Somerset Maugham's definitive 1915 novel about a man who falls hard for the wrong woman. Whether she finally starts falling for him or not isn't clear, but by then it's too late. Though he just can't quite shake her out of his mind... The adaptation was by Lester Cohen. We know Cromwell from Made for Each Other (Lombard and Stewart) and In Name Only (Lombard and Grant).
Leslie Howard plays sensitively; Better Davis' accent leaves something to be desired (despite having moved a cockney girl into her home weeks before the filming), but you can't fault her performance as a cold-hearted bitch. And by the end, Perc Westmore has rendered her corrupt and pitiable.
Which is a tragedy, as first romance novelist Kay Johnson and then farmer's daughter Frances Dee (I Walked with a Zombie) would make much better matches for Howard. Also with Reginald Denny (shitty friend), Alan Hale (farmer). Scored by Max Steiner.
Bette was on loan to RKO and is photographed mistily by someone called Henry W. Gerrard.
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