JohnHowardReid Copyright 28 September 1936 by Samuel Goldwyn. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Rivoli, 23 September 1936. U.S. release: 18 September 1937 (sic). U.K. release: November 1936. Sydney opening at the Embassy: 1 January 1937. 9,138 feet. 11 reels. 101 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Disillusioned American industrialist "finds himself" in Europe.NOTES: Academy Award, Richard Day, Art Direction (defeating Anthony Adverse, The Great Ziegfeld, Lloyds of London, The Magnificent Brute, Romeo and Juliet and Winterset).Also nominated for Best Picture (won by The Great Ziegfeld); Best Actor, Walter Huston (won by Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur); Supporting Actress, Maria Ouspenskaya (won by Gale Sondergaard for Anthony Adverse); Directing (won by Frank Capra for Mr Deeds Goes To Town); Screenplay (won by The Story of Louis Pasteur); and Sound Recording (won by San Francisco).Best Male Performance of 1936: Walter Huston — New York Film Critics. Number 5 on The Film Daily annual poll of U.S. film critics.COMMENT: Opening on Broadway at the Shubert on 24 February 1934, the stage play was a great success, running 317 performances. Walter Huston played Samuel Dodsworth, his frivolous wife was Fay Bainter, whilst his lady-love was enacted by his real-life wife, Nan Sunderland. Others in the stage cast included Maria Ouspenskaya, John Williams, Frederic Worlock, Kent Smith, Hal K. Dawson, Harlan Briggs and Ethel Jackson. Robert Sinclair directed for producer Max Gordon.The acting may be a bit stagy, maybe just a trifle old-fashioned and self-conscious, but there's no denying the abilities of Huston (repeating his stage role), Chatterton and Astor. The story holds up particularly well — in fact I doubt if any producer would dare such a realistic domestic drama even today (in these so loudly trumpeted "liberated" times) — and comes across with considerable force and power.The movie is superbly paced, masterfully directed and brilliantly photographed (notice the most effective use of deep focus — and this is Maté not Toland — years before Citizen Kane). Newman's music is beautifully atmospheric. All told, Dodsworth provides ample evidence of big-budget technical expertise in all departments.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Does the story really end with the last scene of this movie? It almost ends with a riddle. For it is merely Mr. Dodsworth's turn to stay abroad with a lover, something his unfaithful wife had already done. For some reason, we expect the Dodsworths to find their way back together and stay together. Viewers will think Mary Astor's character is the more sympathetic woman and that Walter Huston's Mr. Dodsworth has at last found true happiness, but what has happened is that the narrative has switched so that we are watching infidelity from the reverse angle. When you think about it, the filmmakers are presenting a rather tortured love story that is complicated by the new choices that are being presented abroad.

mnpollio When people use that old catch phrase "They don't make 'em like they used to," it is usually a bunch of hooey. In this case, it would be correct. I am hard-pressed to remember a character-driven drama from the last 20-30 years that falls within the same purview as Dodsworth.Dodsworth is played by Walter Huston and is an American automobile tycoon, who has managed to retain his down-to-earth outlook and continue to find new wonders to experience in life as he gets older. He embarks on a second honeymoon to Europe with his frivolous wife Ruth Chatterton. The journey shines a rather harsh light on their marriage and leads to an estrangement, as the vainglorious Chatterton hares around in a desperate attempt to hang on to her vanishing youth by encouraging the attentions of younger suitors and empty-headed socialites. By contrast, Dodsworth is unafraid to grow old and still finds new things to keep him going. While attempting to maintain his foundering marriage as it heads into estrangement, he meets and falls in love with ex-patriot divorcée Mary Astor, who embodies the maturity and genuine love that his own wife fails to possess.There are no action pieces and no great comedic moments in Dodsworth, but the film is always entertaining thanks to great writing and acting. The film is never heavy and always seem vaguely pleasant, even when dealing with some harsh realities and character defects. Much of that is due to how interesting the characters that populate the landscape are and how emotionally invested we have become in their exploits. It is hard to imagine such a film being made today - especially without some big emotional moment where someone is allowed to hit every note from A to Z in order to rouse the audience. This is old-time storytelling at its peak.Huston contributes a performance of amazing depth and versatility. His Dodsworth is a sympathetic figure and we root for him to find the degree of happiness that he deserves. From the moment on a luxury liner deck where he conveys a child-like wonder at a far-off light in the night (which is characteristically dismissed as uninteresting by his wife) to the latter moments in the film where he comes to accept how things must be and takes action to move on for the best, Huston's performance holds the viewer in the palm of his hand. He never seems to be acting, so much as existing.Chatterton is quite effective as his shallow wife. Her character could have been one-note, but Chatterton (especially in the film's latter moments) conveys the desperation and fright of a vain woman fearing the approach of her maturity and fighting tooth and nail against it. By contrast, Mary Astor has never been more appealing in a performance of warmth and charm. We have no doubt that she is the better match for Dodsworth and wonder whether Dodsworth will start anew with her or continue to pine for the wife that only loves herself. Another scene-stealing performance is contributed by the grand character actress Maria Ouspenskaya, as a member of European nobility who puts the kibosh on a romance between Chatterton and her younger son, and provides a much needed comeuppance character assessment in the process. It is a most satisfying screen moment that is well-acted by both women.Despite being made in the 1930s, it is amazing how contemporary the film feels to the modern day viewer. The film has aged exceedingly well and remains a jewel in the crown from Hollywood's most glorious period. The fact that so many modern viewers have never heard of it is a true shame.

Robert J. Maxwell In the opening scene, retiring tycoon Walter Huston bids farewell to his staff and leaves for home, taking a lingering last sentimental glance at his automobile factory and the choking effluential plumes of flue gas spewing out carbon monoxide and other contaminants and I thought, uh-oh, a gloomy story of a man dealing with role loss. As in, "I no longer work, so what do I do NOW, Ma?" Wrong, though. Huston is tickled pink to have time enough at last to do all the things he's been putting off, beginning with a trip to the capitals of Europe. He's happy as a clam on the Queen Mary. It's his wife, Ruth Chatterton, that's having the problem.It's not having a retired man lying around the house all the time either. That's Problem Number Two. She's suffering from Problem Number One. If my husband is now retired, that must mean I'm growing old.Her spirits are buoyed on the Continent though because she attracts the attention of a number of younger men, beginning with the debonair David Niven and extending in time to the suave, hand-kissing Paul Lukas, showering every woman with his pheromones the way Dodsworth's factories bathe their surroundings is particulate waste.Huston notices all this going on and when he's ready to return to his Midwest mansion, Chatterton wants to stay on for a while in Europe. She stays on for a while. Huston sullenly returns home to find his son-in-law and daughter have taken over the place, moving things around in his den, using his cigar humidor to plant bulbs in, and whatnot.So he returns to Europe where he finds his wife and Lukas sharing a vacation in Biarritz. A bit of friction, there, exalted in magnitude when Chatterton learns that she is now, gasp, a grandmother! Man, is she having a tough time accepting time. Huston meets Mary Astor and there is an electric arc. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds.So far I guess I've made it sound as if Huston is the good guy and Chatterton the mephitic slut but that would be the wrong impression. It's an adult movie. Huston's character may be a bit too much the man of principle, but Chatterton's character has a touch of pathos. She's considerably younger than Huston and isn't ready for the kind of role discontinuity that's being forced on her. Huston has gotten his kicks out of Europe and he wants to settle down and breathe the cold contaminated air of his home town. But what has she got to look forward to? Stretch marks, cellulite, Botox, and a man who shortly will show as much sexual interest in her as in a manatee. It's not a simple-minded flick. Even Lukas, whose role is that of the seducer, is given his due. She invites him into her flat while her husband sleeps in another room and he hesitates because he believes it to be wrong, though he confesses his love for her.But neither does much happen outside these family dynamics and rather routine romantic flings. I found the acting stiff. I like Walter Huston but in these kinds of films he's kind of hard to take seriously -- those sly, knowing, sideways glances; the stern and business-like tone of voice that varies so little. Chatterton's performance is professional but no more than that.I'd like to give it a better recommendation because it has ambition and reach, but it's a little dull and talky for me. Others might enjoy it more.