Dodsworth
|
Our Price: $46.89 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $17.97 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Dodsworth
Movie Review: An Excellent, Mature Film; Walter Huston Is Exceptional
Summary: 5 Stars
For all that Sinclair Lewis' reputation rests on the satires of Babbitt, Main Street and Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth is something different, much more mellow and much more sympathetic.
The movie, written by Sidney Howard and directed by William Wyler, does a fine job of telling the story of Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston), a recently retired automobile manufacturer, and his younger wife, Fran (Ruth Chatterton). Sam Dodsworth is smart and decent, very much the idea of an American. He's no one's fool, and his values of fairness and faithfulness guide his decisions. He loves his wife, but understands her, too. Fran longs to escape the constraints of the stifling, mid-west town of Zenith where Sam had built his company. When he sells the company, they decide to go to Europe on the grand tour, something Fran has longed for. "Sam, I want a new life all over," she says, "from the very beginning...a perfectly free, adventurous, glorious life...why, if we weren't tied to this half-baked middle-western town...oh, Sam, darling, I want all the lovely things I have a right to."
They go to Europe, and on the liner meet Edith Cortwright (Mary Astor), a sympathetic divorcee, and Clyde Lockert (David Niven), the first of several men Fran becomes attracted to. Fran is swept up in the clever, cultured ways of the European men she meets. Increasingly, we see how spoiled, superficial and petulant she is becoming. "You've got to let me have my fling now," she cries to Sam, "because you're simply rushing at old age, and I'm not ready for that." Eventually she maneuvers things so that Sam returns home while she stays in Vienna. What's wrong with her, a friend asks Sam. "She's scared of growing old."
By the end of the movie Sam Dodsworth has learned a good deal about himself and the limits a person can reach. We expect him and Edith Cortwright to achieve a happiness that neither probably thought to have. And for Fran, she will most likely remain a deeply unhappy woman.
This is an excellent, mature drama that contrasts, within the unravelling of a marriage, the Thirties' view of the cultural, controlling sophistication of Europe with the direct vigor of America. Walter Huston does a magnificent job as Sam Dodsworth...strong, decent and, at first, out of his depth. He creates such a sympathetic characterization of Dodsworth that the final moments of the movie bring a real sense of joy and satisfaction.
The DVD picture is in fair shape considering the age of the movie. The only significant extra deals with cast biographies.
Movie Review: WHAT A GEM!
Summary: 5 Stars
I expected a rather stereotypical, dated but interesting film and ended up watching anything but -- I was fascinated almost to the point of being mesmerized during the whole film by the brilliant performances of a great cast, the honest and moving story, beautiful musical score, and the multidimensionality of the characters parading before me. In short, this is a great movie.
It's about the complexity of people, their shadow side and their light side, involved in relationships for better or for worse. A story about an automobile tycoon who adores his wife. A story about a woman who married young and missed out on experiencing life as a single woman, who performed her duties and cares for her husband and children, but feels she has never really lived life to the core. Unfortunately, she loses her humanity in her quest for a more colorful life.
And the acting, oh my, the acting. Walter Huston is just plain terrific (lost out at academy award time that year to Paul Muni), and Ruth Chatterton (straight from Broadway, and does it show in her awesome performance) is perfect for the role of Fran Dodsworth. Ms. Chatterton lived a life ahead of her time: she directed Broadway plays as well, translated French plays for the American theatre, and was a licensed pilot. After she retired she even became a successful writer.
One of the greatest scenes in the film is between Ms. Chatterton and the great Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya, who studied in Russia with the reknowned Stanislavski. She only accepted the role to support her own theatre school in New York, and went on to make many more film appearances. The final lines in this scene will bowl you over. Can't miss.
We even see a very young John Payne, who bills himself as John Howard Payne after an ancestor who actually wrote the classic song "Home Sweet Home."
Excellent directing by William Wyler (he keeps the film going at a fast pace), screenplay by Sidney Howard (also wrote the screenplay of "Gone with the Wind," along with other uncredited writers), and the Broadway play, "The Silver Cord."
I think this film should have won the academy award that year (1936) instead of "The Great Ziegfeld," although, of course, there is much to be said for that film as well.
Movie Review: Great Unexpectations
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie prompted me to buy DODSWORTH, the book by Sinclair Lewis. I found the movie version much better, as the book is weighted down into the brink with Fran Dodsworth sniping and snobbery, and I really hated her way too soon, whereas in the movie, I could hold back from wanting to slap her by Sam Dodsworth's devotion to her. Sam Dodsworth is a man of considerable character and intelligence, who after making a fortune in the auto industry, sells off his business and sails off onto a European extended trip with his spoiled wife. His attitude is to take this time to broaden his horizons, learn something of his family background, educate himself historically, and fall in love with his wife Fran again. Fran's attitude is make herself a centerpiece of upper-class European sophistication, of which she feels entitled to after putting in years of running their home and raising their daughter. You almost get the feeling that she's been marking off the days on a wall, maybe somewhere in the attic, to the day when she'll be able to begin the life she has been fantasizing about for so long in Zenith, Michigan. Fran's frantic desire for attention from men makes you wince with pain for Sam, but he is so patient with her and so true to her, that you want to be on his side and keep giving her another chance, and another and another. Thank God for Edith Cortwright (Mary Astor). I learned later that at this time in Mary Astor's life, she was going through a very public divorce, with hints at adultery and a "purple" diary. Mary Astor's first lines in Dodsworth are said off camera, and when the movie came out in the theaters, Mary wrote that at the sound of her voice the audience exploded in applause. She wrote that this show of affection from the public was so comforting to her, but I like to think some of the applause was the audience perhaps knowing the story and realizing Hurray, here's the woman who is going to save Sam Dodsworth from his wife. To be totally fair, though, Fran is someone to be pitied, because she is so lost and blinded about the fine and true love she had all the time with her husband. A great movie and a great cast. You won't be sorry to add this film to your collectionMovie Review: Mary Astor shines in a Stunning Simple Story
Summary: 5 Stars
Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) has just sold his company and has decided to take a European tour with his wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton). He wants to be a tourist and she wants to be a socialite. This throws her into the arms of various gigolos.
Sam tries to ignore her flirtations but eventually he tires of the vagabond life and returns home. The only thing is that home has moved on and he no longer belongs at the head of his own table.
Sam returns to Europe but Fran has formed an attachment. Sam agrees to a divorce but has to stay in Europe until it is final. During his travels he again runs into Edith (Mary Astor). Edith is an American expatriate widow, who is living in Italy. Sam met Edith on his first ship over and then ran into a couple of times during his earlier travels. Edith invites Sam to stay at her villa until the divorce case is final.
During this time Sam is contented for the first time since his retirement. Once again a curve ball, Fran's boyfriend's mother does not approve of her and he leaves her. Fran decides that Sam is better than nothing. But as the ship is about to depart, Sam realizes that it is time to look after his best interest.
This is a beautifully simple look at a marriage between the wars. This was a period when divorce was still taboo and adultery was even worse. This film featured early performances by many future stars. Walter Huston would not become a star for twenty years when his son John "rediscovered" him. But this film gives him a chance to show that he had talent. As his unfaithful wife Fran, Ruther Chatterton is fine but is probably the weakest link in the film. The great discovery is Mary Astor. She will become one of the greatest character actresses ever. This film shows the depth and range that Mary Astor is capable of. She is just stunning in this film. Also making appearances in this film are future Oscar winners Paul Lukas and David Niven as paramours of Fran.
This is a great film by a great director - William Wyler.
DVD EXTRAS: None
Movie Review: Great movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
I liked this movie very much. It was well acted, well directed and well scripted. Moreover, there was nothing in this movie that compromises itself in terms of frankness. We all know that Ruth Chatterton, Walter Huston's wife in the movie, wants to schtup evey guy she meets. This is some hot-to-trot chick, lemme tell ya.
But movie, made in 1936 as opposed to 2010, doesn't *show* us anything. Which makes the story all the more engaging and intriguing.
In real life Walter Huston, who looked old when he was in his 30s, was 51 when he made this movie and Ruth Chatterton was 43, although in the movie we're led to believe that the age difference is greater, the idea being that the Ruth Chatterton character is getting tired of her old husband and wants to find a new lover.
Ruth Chatterton develops he character brilliantly. Little by little, we begin to realize that her Fran Dodsworth is one spoiled rich brat: selfish, manipulative and shallow. Her husband, Walter Huston (Sam Dodsworth) turns a blind eye to her faults and goes on to live happily ever after. But not with her.
Mary Astor is only 30 in this movie and although she was in real life 21 years younger than Walter Huston, she looks and plays her part older than she actually is.
What I find interesting about movies that came out in the 30's and 40's is that American-born actresses, such as Mary Astor who was born in Illinois, speak in such a way that they sound almost English. Any number of actresses back then did that: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, et al. I suppose the idea was to make them sound more sophisticated, more worldly. In this particular movie that characteristic in Mary Astor makes Walter Huston's character, a down-home, no-nonsense Midwesterner, all the more American by contrast.
One can only imagine what dreck would result if today's Hollywood filmed a remake of this classic movie. Let's hope that never happens.