Somerset Maugham can spin a colorful yarn out of those aspects of human relations that usually lurk in literary backgrounds but rarely appear boldly as the central theme of a story. At times a bit maudlin, the English novelist has avoided stereotyped sentimentalities in "The Moon and Sixpence," and Warner's has followed faithfully with a moving cinema rendition of the tale of simmering desires and explosive emotional escapes.

The Herculean task of portraying Maugham's derelict hero, in his progressive states of degeneracy falls to Hollywood's ablest young character actor, George Sanders. Delicately he begins as the solid English bank-clerk husband, who suddenly is transformed into a callous wife-beating artist. And then Sanders has the picture to himself, for he storms through the following scenes with the biting venom of a freed tiger, trampling helter-skelter over lesser beings, tyrannizing those who are attracted to him, kicking away the happiness of those who happen to be in his way. Finally the human juggernaut comes to rest in the South Sea Islands, where its violent motion is dulled, and it lapses into Maugham triteness, replete with tropical nights, women, and disease.

The plot has weaknesses, mainly in its inability to give the whys and wherefores for such inhuman antics, but Sanders' performance stands aloof from these frailties. He dominates the picture from the first signs of the impending storm through his emotional typhoon, through the human wreckage that he leaves behind, down to the final calm.