Dodsworth (film)

Dodsworth is a 1936 American drama film directed by William Wyler. Sidney Howard based the screenplay on his 1934 stage adaptation of the 1929 novel by Sinclair Lewis. Through the title character, it examines the differences between US and European intellect, manners, and morals.

Synopsis

Middle-aged Sam Dodsworth is the head of Revelation Motor Company, an automobile manufacturing firm. His wife Fran, a shallow and vain woman obsessed with the notion of growing old, convinces her spouse Sam to sell his interest in the company and take her to Europe. Before long, Fran begins to view herself as a sophisticated world traveler and Sam as boring and unimaginative. Searching for excitement in her life, she begins spending time with other men and eventually informs Sam that she's leaving him for a member of royalty. While in Italy, Sam reunites with Edith Cortright, a widow he first met while enroute to Europe abroad the Queen Mary, and the two fall in love. When Fran's plans to marry royalty fall through and she calls off the divorce, Sam rejoins her on a ship to sail back to America but in the climactic scene, Sam realizes his marriage to Fran is over and gets off the ship at the last moment to rejoin Edith after he realizes just how much he cares for her.

Production notes

Walter Huston appeared in the 1934 Broadway production, which co-starred Fay Bainter as Fran. Huston recreated his role yet again for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast in October 1937 .

This was one of two 1936 films based on plays directed by William Wyler. The other was These Three, an adaptation of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour that was sanitized to meet the Production Code's standards.

The film was named one of the year's ten best by the New York Times and was one of the top twenty box office films of the year.

In 1990, Dodsworth was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2005, Time named it one of the 100 best movies of the past 80 years .

Principal 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 ..... Captain Clyde Lockert
• Gregory Gaye ..... Baron Kurt Von Obersdorf
• Maria Ouspenskaya .....Baroness Von Obersdorf
• Spring Byington ..... Matey Pearson

Principal production credits

• Producers ..... Samuel Goldwyn, Merritt Hulburd
• Original Music ..... Alfred Newman
• Cinematography ..... Rudolph Maté
• Art Direction ..... Richard Day
• Costume Design ..... Omar Kiam

Critical reception

In his review in the New York Times, Frank S. Nugent described it as "admirable" and added, "William Wyler . . . has had the skill to execute it in cinematic terms, and a gifted cast has been able to bring the whole alive to our complete satisfaction . . . [the film] has done more than justice to Mr. Howard's play, converting a necessarily episodic tale . . . into a smooth-flowing narrative of sustained interest, well-defined performance and good talk."

Time said it was "directed with a proper understanding of its values by William Wyler, splendidly cast and brilliantly played."

Awards and nominations

• Academy Award for Best Picture (nominee)
• Academy Award for Best Actor (Walter Huston, nominee)
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Maria Ouspenskaya, nominee)
• Academy Award for Best Director (nominee)
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction (winner)
• Academy Award for Best Sound, Recording (nominee)
• Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay (nominee)

References

External links