For all the complaints about Bette Davis' accent, I think the earlier version with Davis and Leslie Howard was much better at evoking the ratty edges of the story and the essence of the characters.
There seems to have been a strange "opposites day" bit of casting here. Kim Novak's Mildred appeared rather vulnerable in her ignorance and Laurence Harvey as Philip seemed much more calculating in the early scenes where he first was taken with her. Leslie Howard appeared rather pathetic in the same scenes, but Harvey seemed to have a sharper agenda. Yes it was turned on its head, but he didn't appear to be the poor little shut out clueless failure that Howard was so good at portraying.
Meh... worth watching to see how a story can be updated for more modern audiences than the '34 version, but stick with the original for the gritty stuff.
There seems to have been a strange "opposites day" bit of casting here. Kim Novak's Mildred appeared rather vulnerable in her ignorance and Laurence Harvey as Philip seemed much more calculating in the early scenes where he first was taken with her. Leslie Howard appeared rather pathetic in the same scenes, but Harvey seemed to have a sharper agenda. Yes it was turned on its head, but he didn't appear to be the poor little shut out clueless failure that Howard was so good at portraying.
Meh... worth watching to see how a story can be updated for more modern audiences than the '34 version, but stick with the original for the gritty stuff.