Classic Film Review: Dodsworth
November 7th 2009 05:59
Dodsworth (Wyler, 1936)
Dodsworth, released in 1936, is a surprisingly powerful and incredibly realistic marital drama. Walter Huston plays the titular character, Sam Dodsworth. He’s worked his entire life and has just sold his business. With his free time he’s decided to appease his wife Fran (played by Ruth Chatterton) and travel to Europe for an extended vacation. The first scene with Fran (played by Ruth Chatterton) fails to reveal exactly what she is capable of. We soon learn she is a selfish, self-absorbed woman obsessed with youth. On the boat to Europe Fran is already cheating on her husband, insisting she wants to have fun.
Sam meets someone on the ship as well (Edith Cortwright played by the lovely Mary Astor) but only engages in innocent conversation. While in Europe, Fran continues her flirtations, grows bored of her husband, and eventually asks him go home without her. Sam questions her growing distance, “I’m not beginning to lose you, am I?”
Like the loyal and defeated husband he is, Sam returns home only to grow impatient, anxious, and angered over the infrequency of Fran’s letters and worried over the man Fran is spending her time.
Discovering his wife’s indiscretions, Sam returns to Europe and confronts Fran and her lover. Walter Huston’s performance is heartbreakingly realistic as that of a man attempting to hold his marriage together at all costs. Ruth Chatterton infuriates; her performance is that of a hurricane that will not let up. In one scene, her character refuses to go home and see her daughter (who just had a child) because it would force her to admit she is a grandmother; Fran insists she is 35 years of age and it is her “much older husband” who makes her feel old.
Fran has a lot of issues in terms of self confidence and the ability to be independent. Sam is a man who has been beaten down for years by work and a disapproving wife. He doesn’t know how to live without working and he doesn’t know how to break away from the trap of his marriage. The way this all plays out is, of course, predictable but also a complex and mature depiction of the dissolution of a marriage and the rebirth of a man.
Dodsworth, released in 1936, is a surprisingly powerful and incredibly realistic marital drama. Walter Huston plays the titular character, Sam Dodsworth. He’s worked his entire life and has just sold his business. With his free time he’s decided to appease his wife Fran (played by Ruth Chatterton) and travel to Europe for an extended vacation. The first scene with Fran (played by Ruth Chatterton) fails to reveal exactly what she is capable of. We soon learn she is a selfish, self-absorbed woman obsessed with youth. On the boat to Europe Fran is already cheating on her husband, insisting she wants to have fun.
Sam meets someone on the ship as well (Edith Cortwright played by the lovely Mary Astor) but only engages in innocent conversation. While in Europe, Fran continues her flirtations, grows bored of her husband, and eventually asks him go home without her. Sam questions her growing distance, “I’m not beginning to lose you, am I?”
Like the loyal and defeated husband he is, Sam returns home only to grow impatient, anxious, and angered over the infrequency of Fran’s letters and worried over the man Fran is spending her time.
Discovering his wife’s indiscretions, Sam returns to Europe and confronts Fran and her lover. Walter Huston’s performance is heartbreakingly realistic as that of a man attempting to hold his marriage together at all costs. Ruth Chatterton infuriates; her performance is that of a hurricane that will not let up. In one scene, her character refuses to go home and see her daughter (who just had a child) because it would force her to admit she is a grandmother; Fran insists she is 35 years of age and it is her “much older husband” who makes her feel old.
Fran has a lot of issues in terms of self confidence and the ability to be independent. Sam is a man who has been beaten down for years by work and a disapproving wife. He doesn’t know how to live without working and he doesn’t know how to break away from the trap of his marriage. The way this all plays out is, of course, predictable but also a complex and mature depiction of the dissolution of a marriage and the rebirth of a man.
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Dodsworth is such an interesting William Wyler film because it is often overlooked because of his massive career successes. (The obvious one being Ben Hur) This is every bit as good as his later work, and even I forgot how much i enjoyed it till reading your review reminded me of it.
Walter Huston,was so talented at subtlety before it was really recognized in the 50's. Still Treasure of Sierra Madre will always be my fave of his.
If your interested you can read my review of Wyler's The Collector by clicking HERE