Dodsworth (film)

All you want to know about Dodsworth (film)

Dodsworth

Original poster
Directed by William Wyler
Produced by Samuel Goldwyn
Merritt Hulburd
Written by Sidney Howard
Adapted from his play based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis
Starring Walter Huston
Ruth Chatterton
Paul Lukas
Mary Astor
Music by Alfred Newman
Cinematography Rudolph Maté
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) September 23, 1936
Running time 101 min.
Country  United States
Language English

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.

Contents

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 divorcee 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 and Mary Astor

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 [1].

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 [2].

Principal cast

Principal production credits

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." [3]

Time said it was "directed with a proper understanding of its values by William Wyler, splendidly cast and brilliantly played." [4]

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ^ Dodsworth at Turner Classic Movies
  2. ^ Dodsworth at Time All-Time 100 Best Films
  3. ^ New York Times review
  4. ^ Time review

External links

v • d • e
Films directed by William Wyler
1920s
The Crook Buster (1925) • The Gunless Bad Man (1926) • Ridin' for Love (1926) • The Fire Barrier (1926) • Don't Shoot (1926) • The Pinnacle Rider (1926) • Martin of the Mounted (1926) • Lazy Lightning (1926) • The Stolen Ranch (1926) • The Two Fister (1927) • Kelcy Gets His Man (1927) • Tenderfoot Courage (1927) • The Silent Partner (1927) • Blazing Days (1927) • Shooting Straight (1927) • Galloping Justice (1927) • The Haunted Homestead (1927) • Hard Fists (1927) • The Lone Star (1927) • The Home Trail (1927) • Gun Justice (1927) • The Phantom Outlaw (1927) • The Square Shooter (1927) • The Horse Trader (1927) • Daze of the West (1927) • The Border Cavalier (1927) • Desert Dust (1927) • Thunder Riders (1928) • Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (1928) • The Shakedown (1929) • The Love Trap (1929)
1930s
Hell's Heroes (1930) • The Storm (1930) • A House Divided (1931) • Tom Brown of Culver (1932) • Her First Mate (1933) • Counsellor at Law (1933) • Glamour (1934) • The Good Fairy (1935) • The Gay Deception (1935) • Barbary Coast (1935) • These Three (1936) • Dodsworth (1936) • Come and Get It (1936) • Dead End (1937) • Jezebel (1938) • Wuthering Heights (1939)
1940s
The Westerner (1940) • The Letter (1940) • The Little Foxes (1941) • Mrs. Miniver (1942) • Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944) • The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) • Thunderbolt (1947) • The Heiress (1949)
1950s
Detective Story (1951) • Carrie (1952) • Roman Holiday (1953) • The Desperate Hours (1955) • Friendly Persuasion (1956) • The Big Country (1958) • Ben-Hur (1959)
1960s
The Children's Hour (1961) • The Collector (1965) • How to Steal a Million (1966) • Funny Girl (1968)
1970s
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodsworth_(film)"

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