Dodsworth (1936)

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Sinclair Lewis (novel)
Sidney Howard (dramatisation)

Release Date:

23 September 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A bittersweet tale of the increasing estrangement of a retired automobile tycoon and his wife. Increasingly...

Plot Keywords:

Reconciliation | Aging | Affair | Socialite | Vacation

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Walter Huston	...	Sam Dodsworth
Ruth Chatterton	...	Fran Dodsworth
Paul Lukas	...	Arnold Iselin
Mary Astor	...	Mrs. Edith Cortright
Kathryn Marlowe	...	Emily Dodsworth McKee
David Niven	...	Capt. Clyde Lockert
Gregory Gaye	...	Baron Kurt Von Obersdorf
Maria Ouspenskaya	...	Baroness Von Obersdorf (as Mme. Maria Ouspenskaya)
Odette Myrtil	...	Renée De Penable
John Payne	...	Harry McKee (as John Howard Payne)
Spring Byington	...	Matey Pearson
Harlan Briggs	...	Tubby Pearson

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Wide Range Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #2603) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Trivia:

The play opened on Broadway on 24 February 1934 and had 315 performances. Walter Huston, Harlan Briggs and Charles Halton reprised their stage roles in the film, but Halton's footage was cut from the final print. Also in the opening-night cast were Fay Bainter as Fran Dodsworth, Hal K. Dawson, Beatrice Maude (also in the film), Ivan Miller, Kent Smith, Ninetta Sunderland (Huston's real-life wife) and Frederick Worlock.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Sam's hand position changes, jumping to the ship's rail.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Secretary: [offscreen] Mr. Dodsworth?
Sam Dodsworth: Yes.
Secretary: The men are ready.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Soundtrack:

Auld Lang Syne

A Minor Classic

"Dodsworth" is a disarmingly honest and frank depiction of a failed marriage, based on the Sinclair Lewis novel. Its naturalistic acting and its refusal to make its characters anything less than full-bodied human beings make it feel way ahead of its time. It's never mentioned along with other classic films of the period--probably because it doesn't have an epic scope--but it should be.

Walter Huston gives an absolutely flawless performance in the title role. His type is so recognizable, even today: the successful American business man who values the simplest and most traditional of American values, and who comes across as provincial and crass to the rest of the world. Ruth Chatterton meets Huston's performance every step of the way as Dodsworth's wife, glad of the material comfort her husband can provide, but embarrassed by him and aware that he will prevent her from joining the world of high culture to which she wants to belong. It is to the movie's distinct credit that neither of these characters is either hero or villain. Dodsworth is crass and unsophisticated; yet at the same time he's honest and never misleads his wife into thinking he's something that he's not. Mrs. Dodsworth has a right to be bored by the kind of life Dodsworth is content with, but she might have thought of that before so readily accepting his financial success.

I don't really know for sure, but I have a feeling this movie might have made people very uncomfortable in 1936. I doubt married couples were encouraged to turn too critical an eye on their own marriages back then, and I suspect that more people than not decided to stick it out in unhappy marriages rather than violate a sense of social propriety. Before the days when people dated for a few years before getting married, many people probably learned about the kind of person they were marrying only after the wedding day. "Dodsworth" beautifully captures the sad, melancholy feeling of waking up one morning and realizing you're not married to the person you thought you were.

Grade: A