Of Human Bondage (1964)

A medical student (Laurence Harvey) becomes obsessed with a sluttish Cockney waitress (Kim Novak). In spite of her constant lying and manipulation of him, he's so smitten with her that he accepts her abuse until he just can't take it anymore. But even then, only death will break the ties permanently. The third film version of the W. Somerset Maugham novel with a screenplay by Bryan Forbes, the film was started by director Henry Hathaway (TRUE GRIT) who left the project and was replaced by Ken Hughes (CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG). Both men receive a director's credit. The character of Philip Carey (played by Harvey) is an unappealing one. He's essentially an emotional masochist and it's not pleasant to watch his mooning and whining over the mean spirited Mildred. Kim Novak is one of those stars who just needs to be and that's often quite enough. When she tries to "act", she can be terrible and she's acting here. Egregiously miscast, the role is beyond the grasp of her abilities as an actress. I didn't expect anything from the dull Harvey and he didn't disappoint. The annoyingly repetitive score is by Ron Goodwin.  With Siobhan McKenna, Robert Morley, Roger Livesey, Nanette Newman and Jack Hedley.