Dodsworth

Dodsworth is an early William Wyler film, well, it was 1936, and it was his first Oscar nomination, but he had made dozens of films during the '20s. It's a clear-eyed adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel, which contrasts middle America and the so-called sophistication of Europe.

Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) is a self-made man. He grew rich making a car company, but decides to sell to enjoy retirement. This is, we gather, at the behest of his wife (Ruth Chatterton), who is stifled in their provincial city and wants to go on a grand tour of Europe. Huston has talked himself into believing he will have a good time.

On the boat over, the couple meets a British man (David Niven) who flirts with Chatterton, who is pleased with the attention, but when he wants to take it further she convinces Huston to strike London off the itinerary. They go to Paris, and she takes up with a playboy (Paul Lukas) and convinces Huston to go on home.

Before the film is over, she will want a divorce to marry a cash-poor nobleman (Gregory Gaye), but the marriage is scotched when his mother (Maria Ouspenkaya, who has only one scene but got an Oscar nomination) disapproves of her. The most wounding comment she makes is when she points out that Chatterton is old.

Indeed Chatterton is afraid of getting old, and when a grandchild is born she is in further despair. Huston, for his part, grants her the divorce and moves in with a free-spirited expatriate in Naples (Mary Astor). The audience will root for true love, and will get it, in a wonderful scene set on a cruise ship. "Love has got so stop somewhere short of suicide!" he rails.

Wyler, who was well known for being a perfectionist, has made a perfect movie. The performances, sets, costumes, and photography are all perfect. Huston holds it together with a character we can all identify--he refers himself to a hick, but Chatterton has decided she is above all that, even though she is a brewer's daughter. My only complaint is wondering how Chatterton, who is a great villain, has seduced all these men.

Of interest, Astor made this film while she was also in the middle of a scandal regarding her custody of her child. Her diary, full of sexy details about her affairs, had been splashed across newspapers.