Rating: 
Summary: Good worthwhile movie
Review: I wish there were more movies like this. I had a lot to think about and a lot to look at and think about. It reminds me of Of Human Bondage - the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A movie for a desert isle....
Review: If I can only have one movie to take with me to that proverbial desert isle, I pick this one. The play between Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton is really something to see...they gave the best performances of their careers here (and I love Chatterton in a little-known Pre-Code film called "Lilly Turner" which you should definitely seek out). The script VASTLY improves upon the book by Sinclair Lewis, and fleshes out the part of, to quote Chatterton, "that washed-out ex-patriate" played by Mary Astor. Praised in its day for its maturity and its sumptuous production, it is still an absolutely perfect film. The final 5 minutes show what an intense climax a director can create from a relatively tiny story.
Rating:
Summary: A movie for a desert isle....
Review: If I can only have one movie to take with me to that proverbial desert isle, I pick this one. The play between Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton is really something to see...they gave the best performances of their careers here (and I love Chatterton in a little-known Pre-Code film called "Lilly Turner" which you should definitely seek out). The script VASTLY improves upon the book by Sinclair Lewis, and fleshes out the part of, to quote Chatterton, "that washed-out ex-patriate" played by Mary Astor. Praised in its day for its maturity and its sumptuous production, it is still an absolutely perfect film. The final 5 minutes show what an intense climax a director can create from a relatively tiny story.
Rating:
Summary: Love has to stop short of suicide.
Review: Is the line Dodsworth delivers to his wife towards the fimal moments of this film. He'll never be able to forget her, but he must choose life over insanity. This is the theme of Sinclair Lewis' novel, directed by Billy Wilder. Not a single reviewer thus far has given it less than five stars, and with good reason."DODSWORTH" occupies a strange place in the history of cinema. Of all the truly great American films, it is probably the least known. Dodsworth (Walter Huston) is a wealthy businessman who sells his company against the advice of a friend who can't picture him in retirement: " You and I are meant to die in harness ". Dodsworth disagrees. His affairs are in order, his only daughter has gotten married and he's going to spend the rest of his life traveling, or fishing, or simply living; confident he will be happy enjoying however many years he has left because Dodsworth is much more than a self-made entrepreneur. He is also a man who is madly in love with his wife. "Have I told you today that I adore you?" is his favorite greeting. However his wife, Fran (Ruth Chatterton) although an intelligent and loving woman, cannot cope with the threat of old age. She recoils at the thought of being a grandmother, and the European vacation they embark upon soon turns to nightmare, as Fran's frenzied search for validation that she's still a desirable woman lead her into a series of embarassing fiascos, from infidelity with a giggolo, to cajoling a proposal of marriage from a milksop aristocrat, young enough to be her son. Despite these humiliations Dodsworth remains loyal to the woman he adores and it is not until her (apparently) final abandonment hat he allows his companionship with the beautiful widow, Edith (Mary Astor) to grow into a love affair. The actors are phenomenal. The direction---well, it's Wilder, enough said. An intelligent and moving story about the courage to love. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A movie for adults--in the best sense of the term.
Review: It is a stinging indictment of today's Hollywood that a movie like Dodsworth probably couldn't get made today. In its emotional richness and complexity, it demands an audience that doesn't expect an explosion or a poopoo joke every ten seconds. Walter Huston gives one of the all-time great performances as Sam Dodsworth, a self-made millionaire who goes to Europe searching for his roots. Unfortunately, his neurotic wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton, an unjustly forgotten actress) goes with him searching for something else entirely, and the movie is largely about the suffering her emotional games-playing causes him. Add Mary Astor as an elegant American divorcee, Paul Lukas and David Niven as shady Europeans, and Maria Ouspenskaya as a wise old Austrian baroness, and you have a great cast giving life to a screenplay of uncommon literacy and wisdom. Dodsworth is a movie for people who are willing to pay attention, who don't want everything spelled out in huge letters, and who agree with F. Scott Fitzgerald that action is character.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, for the good old days of films!
Review: Ruth Chatterton, William Wyler, Walter Huston - how could you go wrong with these film greats involved? I loved every minute of it. It was romantic, touching, funny -- black and white and I wouldn't have it any other way. Such a great film -- please, do yourself a favor and buy this NOW! It's how movies should be!
Rating:
Summary: Oh, for the good old days of films!
Review: Ruth Chatterton, William Wyler, Walter Huston - how could you go wrong with these film greats involved? I loved every minute of it. It was romantic, touching, funny -- black and white and I wouldn't have it any other way. Such a great film -- please, do yourself a favor and buy this NOW! It's how movies should be!
Rating:
Summary: Mature for its time.
Review: This is a wonderful, mature, romantic drama that is widely overlooked. Ruth Chatterton gives her best performance ever as Fran Dodsworth. She is cold and cruel which makes her character even more interesting and more powerful than Walter Huston's portrayal as Sam Dodsworth. I think Ruth Chatterton should have won Best Actress for 1936 and that the film should have won Best Picture over The Great Ziegfeld (1936), even though I am fond of that film as well.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT FILM FROM 1936.
Review: This movie holds a special fascination for me. First off, the little-seen-on-video actress Ruth Chatterton does a superlative job as Fran Dodsworth, the hopelessly vain forty-something wife of a successful American Industrialist I love the remark Mary Astor makes to Chatterton when Fran states to the younger Edith: "I hope I look as good as you do at your age" - "You're almost certain to, my dear" replies Mary. As Dodsworth himself, Walter Huston is amazing: a brilliantly effective performance, simple, unaffected -- basking in its realism. Mary Astor is wonderful as the true blue widow Edith Cortwright. Astor plays her role with a sincere confidence and her character is a nice contrast to the foolish Fran (Who gets more ridiculously affected and flirtatious as the film progresses) Apart from the great Maria Ouspenskaya - who has one telling scene - David Niven is merely adequate here and the other supporting players (John Payne, Spring Byington, etc.) aren't particularly memorable. But Huston, Chatterton and Astor carry the film aided by William Wyler's superb direction. And that lovely semi-sentimental musical theme heard throughout doesn't exactly mar the film, either. DODSWORTH is an uncommonly adult film for the 193O's (Nineteen thirties Hollywood, anyway!) And it's a joy to relish for those interested in fine vintage performances from three pros doing some of their finest work on screen.
Rating:
Summary: Superior film of adult behaviour and society
Review: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor, Kathryn Marlowe, and John Payne headline this study of marriage and early 20th Century culture. The story line is solid, the script is restrained, direction & acting excellent. Typical of many lesser known films, Dodsworth combines the best of book-to-film conversions (Sinclair Lewis-book, Sidney Howard-script), and accurate psychological drama - for thinking adults. Dodsworth offers a rare chance to see musical stage star Kathryn Marlowe as the daughter. Marlowe (AKA Kay Kimber on Broadway & London stage, Kay Rea on radio and TV), was brought to Hollywood as Fred Astaire's choice to be his movie partner at RKO studios. In typical Hollywood politics, this was stopped by Ginger Roger's mother, an RKO executive. Marlowe is the person who introduced Iowa radio sports announcer Ronald Reagan to Hollywood, getting him his agent, and introducing him around. Underused as a Goldwyn personal contract player, Marlowe returned to the London stage, starring in "High Button Shoes". There, she also pushed careers of newcomers in her shows, such as Audry Hepburn. Married to famed bandleader Roy Fox, after World War II Marlowe stopped touring, and became Production Manager of KTVO TV in Ottumwa, Iowa to be near her parents, and to raise a family. John Payne can be seen early in his busy career.
| 
