Dodsworth (1936)

It is hard to believe that this film is 64 years old. Walter Huston gives a performance of depth and understanding. He is matched by Mary Astor. The acting seems much more 'modern' than other films from that era, and the story will definitely hold comtemporary audiences. One of my choices for one of the greatest films of the 1930s.

Fmovies: Dodsworth is one of those Hollywood treasures that the insiders and historians worship but that the general public knows nothing about. There are more famous classic films from the 1930's but not one is any better than Dodsworth. Dodsworth belongs in the class of Lost Horizon, Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone With the Wind, etc. as one of the greatest films of the thirties. It also deserves to be recognized as an old movie that plays well today. This movie does not seem nearly as dated as so many other 70 year old movies. Much of the credit goes to the great novel by Sinclair Lewis, but many great books have been turned into inferior films. The screenplay, direction, acting, photography are all outstanding. The cast is simply extraordinary, one of the best ensembles ever assembled. Just look at the number of soon to be major stars in the supporting cast. Watch it!

If you're tired of the actual Hollywood teenager productions, you have a chance to see some maturity watching "Dodsworth". The relationship of the Dodsworths are amazingly realistic, and the wonderful performances by Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton only improve the reality of the situation. He is amazing as a retired middle-aged industrialist and she is faultless as his futile, snob and frustrated wife. This film also got me some extra points because of Mary Astor, at the highest point of her beauty. It's masterly directed by William Wyler, and the cinematography is wonderful. One of the greatest films from the first decade of the sounded films.

Dodsworth fmovies. It's impossible to do justice to this work, which chronicles the complex breakdown of a long and successful marriage that cannot adjust to new challenges. Unlike many movies of the 1930s with high production values and a feel for old, glamorous Hollywood, the drama remains focused and disciplined. Aside from its subtle analysis of the end of a relationship, the movie does a superb job of contrasting the differences between the new, powerful go-getter culture of 20th-Century America and the more restrained, skeptical traditions of Old Europe. The movie in some ways represents a dialogue between these two cultures, which at time clash, most poignantly when an old Austrian baroness speaks frankly to the wife of an American industrialist. A great overlooked classic.

The experience of watching movies has got to be one of the great original adventures of the 20th century. What luck when we come across a movie that we may have only slightly heard of, if at all, and then happen to bump into one evening - which changes your perspective on life or adds just that little bit more of enjoyment into a life spent thinking one has seen everything!

Such was my experience tonight with DODSWORTH. What an innocuous, if not, nondescript title for a movie which held so many delights within the walls of its celluloid chamber!

How could I have known that this silly title would open up new vistas for me? I am not saying this movie changed my life. But how unexpected to have found ONE MORE GEM amongst the thousands of movies that I have already known and loved! Walter Huston was a major surprise for me. I had seen him before. But never like this.

The same with Ruth Chatterton. The scenes with Mary Astor near the end are almost priceless. Talking about those scenes...one can only wonder how such simple dialog could elicit so many feelings from us? I say that Sinclair Lewis had something to do with its success.

But let's not leave out the master - William Wyler!

Sinclair Lewis's novel of American morals and mores Dodsworth was first adapted for the stage by Sidney Howard. It provided Walter Huston with one of his best known parts, he appeared in the play on Broadway for 315 performances for the 1934-35 season. Samuel Goldwyn was smart enough to both buy the play and make sure to sign Walter Huston to repeat his performance for the film. At least his performance in this role is preserved unlike Knickerbocker Holiday.

The plot concerns Samuel Dodsworth, successful automobile industrialist who sells out his firm to a conglomerate like General Motors and at 50 decides to get a bit more out of life, starting with a trip to Europe with wife Ruth Chatterton. Huston's a hick tourist and he knows it, so to him it's see the sights and get back home to his daughter Kathryn Marlowe and her husband John Payne who are planning to put him into the grandfather business.

But the thought of being a grandmother frightens the dickens out of Chatterton. And when she hits Europe you can hear the refrain of that song of the returning dough-boys, How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm After They've Seen Paree. Their middle America town of Zenith, the location of so many Sinclair Lewis stories just ain't good enough for her any more.

She goes through a succession of men, David Niven, Paul Lukas, and Gregory Gaye who flatter her vanity with affairs. She's ready to divorce Huston for Gaye once she can get clearance from his formidable mother Maria Ouspenskaya. In the meantime Huston's found a widow in Mary Astor who likes him just as he is.

For the usually rosy cinema of 1936 Dodsworth is a remarkably mature and sophisticated story given its time. The film received several Academy Award nominations and won for Best Art&Set Direction, but strangely enough Ruth Chatterton was overlooked for Best Actress. I was more impressed with her performance than Huston's and he was at the top of his game.

Dodsworth was up for Best Picture, Best Actor for Walter Huston, Best Supporting Actress for Maria Ouspenskaya, Best Director for William Wyler and Best Screenplay Adaption by Sidney Howard. Goldwyn was smart enough to get Howard to adapt his own work for the screen.

After 71 years the film holds up as well as in 1936 and will be enjoyed by today's audience just as much as in 1936.