I would like to make clear my opinion that the review of the movie is not necessarily what I think the movie is really about. I don't know if "ill-fated romance" is the way to accurately view this movie and the story it was based on. Who is to say that given who Philip and who Mildred are as people, that the romance they did have isn't actually the best possible romance they possibly could have had and possibly will continue to have at the end of the book/movie? Who knows whether Mildred died of lung disease or was rescued by another gentleman only to turn up when Philip and she really needed to see each other years later? The point being: is a romance better being something that enables each party to cannibalize each other's lives or allow each other to go on with the lives they really want but perhaps could not have in conventional ways being with each other?

I also would like to say that even though the print is really difficult to see--the letters they write to each other are almost impossible to see and no one says what the letters say in
words-- that I think this movie should be kept extant by any means possible, because the emotions and mental states the actors express have mainly been lost to the world as well as to cinema in the 80 or so years since the world has drastically changed and no one would be caught nowadays evincing the kinds of feelings these characters were not too full of hubris to emote.

And another correction: I feel Leslie Howard is also magnificent!

Great filming of the classic novel(set here in the 1930's instead of the teens). Watch this and you'll see why Bette Davis is still the acting legend that she is. The scene where she attacks the hero with a barrage of insults is an absolute knockout! Splendid photography and sentimental background music are also big plus's. Highly recommended film.