W. Somerset Maugham's novel, about a guttersnipe waitress in London who becomes the object of a smitten doctor's obsession, becomes intriguing film giving Bette Davis one of the first startling, showy roles of her early career. This melodrama, later remade in 1946 and 1964, has a tendency to plod along, with disappointing cinematography and art direction (the look of the film seems wrong, artificial instead of gritty). However, when mercurial Davis is front and center, one is apt to be drawn in simply by the look on her face or by the delivery of her lines; Davis is so certain of her talents by this point, she cannot help but be mesmerizing--to us and to herself. **1/2 from ****