hyped garbage

best movie i've ever seen.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

William Wyler has been responsible for a number of great films, of which Dodsworth is one of my favourites from him and from the 30s too.The film looks great, gleamingly shot with beautiful art direction which secured a well-deserved Oscar for Best Art Direction. Alfred Newman's score is melancholic, haunting and orchestrated with such richness, considering the story this approach could have been inappropriate but the story here is written in such a way that the approach is ideal and it is a great score in its own right. Dodsworth is a brilliantly written film, with a nuanced and remarkably honest screenplay that was ahead of its time for back then and still holds much relevance now. The story is full-blown poignant romance with a refreshing honesty and an intensely dark edge, despite how it sounds it's written and constructed in a way that avoids becoming too much of a soap opera.Dodsworth's characters are remarkably compelling in their realism, all having their likable traits and their bad traits. Fran especially could easily have been a character with no redeeming qualities but is written with dimension and played with nuance that you kind of understand what she's going through while never condoning her actions. Wyler directs with elegant class and a good deal of narrative tension. The performances are fantastic from all involved, especially a possible career best from Walter Huston and a quietly dignified Mary Astor. Ruth Chatterton even manages to bring nuance and pathos to a rather snobbish and self-centred role, David Niven is his usual charismatic self and Maria Ouspenskaya makes her short screen time memorable. Nice to see Spring Byinton in a dramatic supporting role after seeing her in more comedic roles.All in all, a William Wyler treasure and a must see. 10/10 Bethany Cox

In "Dodsworth," the title auto magnate embarks on a European tour with his wife, who takes up with a series of penniless but titled men. To modern ears, the plot sounds a tad soapy, but in 1936, social-climbing American divorcées were the destroyers of dynasties, not dowagers out of Danielle Steele, so this Sinclair Lewis novel gets a very tasteful, respectful film treatment with an A-list cast (Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor) and director (William Wyler, master of middlebrow, middle-class drama -- see "The Best Years of Our Lives"). The results are uneven, thanks to an awesome performance by Huston and an awful one by Chatterton, but generally entertaining, thanks to genuine suspense about the survival of the Dodsworth's marriage.Craggy Hollywood legend Huston plays craggy American archetype Sam Dodsworth, a man of humble origins who claws his way to the top through brains and industriousness. After he sells his automobile company to a huge competitor(quite realistic for the time --young audience members will be shocked to learn that there were once more than three car companies in America), his American archetype wife, the vaguely ditzy and dissatisfied Fran (Chatterton), convinces him to enjoy his new leisure by sailing for Europe since she's never been happy in her home town of Zenith (had she read more Lewis novels, she'd realize no one is, not even George Babbitt). Innocents (or idiots) abroad is another shopworn American theme, and here, Europe doesn't get an especially sympathetic treatment since the whole continent is portrayed as swarming with well-dressed smoothies looking for any chance to sponge off of rich, gullible American women. Ruth throws herself at tux after tux, one of which encases a young David Niven (who bears a striking resemblance to a middle-aged David Niven and an old David Niven), until Walter finally has enough and succumbs to the charms of lovely Edith Cortright (Astor), a sad-eyed, charming American divorcée living in Naples. Astor is good, she's very good, as lovely Edith, and I wonder if more traditionalist audiences in the 1930s were rooting for the end of the Dodsworth marriage (as I was) or the reconciliation of Sam and Fran. Wyler and the screenwriters try to build some sympathy for dear Mrs. Dodsworth by subjecting her to a humiliating dressing-down by a slow-talking European countess (the wonderfully named Madame Maria Ouspenskaya) whose son Fran aspires to marry. But since the character of Fran is so shrill and annoying, thanks in part to the script and thanks in part to Ruth Chatterton's inability to convey any real feeling (the character makes about three transitions in every scene, none of which ol' Ruth bothers to register), you kind of wish that the good Madame will pull a pearl-handled revolver from the folds of her gown and put Ruth and the audience out of their collective misery.Once you ignore Ruthie, though, "Dodsworth" is a pretty good time. Between the epic score and the epic scenery, it's a fantastically lush production, and there's some clever filmmaking going on between the economical dialogue (entire relationships are established in three lines) and smart cinematography (every time you see a character standing in a doorway, something major is about to happen). And Huston excels as the kind of homespun hero that Spencer Tracy or Jimmy Stewart were too young to play in 1936, and to his great credit, he doesn't shy from Sam D's darker side -- the scene in which he returns, cuckolded, to Zenith and starts yelling at everyone in his house is fantastically uncomfortable. Angelica inherited her talent from him and her looks, blessedly, from somewhere else.

This old guy and his wife are deeply in love. Then she's not. Old guy puts up with it until she files for divorce. Then he gets a younger woman. Then his wife says come back, so he does. But she treats him like crap, and he ditches her for the young stuff. Young stuff doesn't mind that he dumped her for the snotty wife, and she takes him back. The end.Great movie, but it's not a "love story." It's the tale of a strong man who faced a failing marriage.Some have questioned why Maria Ouspenskaya got an Oscar nomination over Mary Astor. Ms. Ouspenskaya's role is critical. Wifey needs a reason to run back to hubby. Ms. Ouspenskaya's role provides that reason.But why no nomination for Astor? Because her role is not needed. This movie is about the growth and change of Huston. With or without Astor, Huston would have gotten off that boat.Some have questioned why Astor and Huston didn't get more screen time to develop their romance. Again, that is because this is not a love story. This is about the growth of Doddsworth. He stayed loyal to his wife up to the very end, and when the end came, that's when he started messing with Astor's character.I like Astor, but Doddsworth could have taken up fishing, and the movie would have been the same.I think Sinclair Lewis was being tricky. Wifey leaves hubby. Wifey says come back. Hubby drops new love and runs back. Now new love stays true. Hubby runs back to new love. Now that he is back, will their new relationship last any longer than when hubby ran back to wifey just a few scenes back? Personally, if I was a woman, I would not welcome back a man who had just dumped me to run back to his wife and then dumped his wife to run back to me. If this is a love story, it is part of the women-with-low-self-esteem genre.Rarely is a movie so well written and well acted. Everyone associated with the film was outstanding, but Huston stands high above everyone else.Small criticisms: 1, Doddsworth could have knocked a few guys down. 2, Doddsworth could have improved wifey's disposition with a grapefruit and a few words of advice from Cagney. 3, Why does Astor constantly look like somebody ran over her kitty? I give this movie a strong 10 out of 10 stars.

This movie was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Walter Huston). That's because it's one very impressive movie.Of a different sort.Like the novel, Sinclair Lewis' Dodsworth, this is the story of an older man who has arrived at retirement but discovers that he has no identity other than his work. His wife, a thankless role taken by Ruth Chatterton, can't deal with growing older, and destroys their marriage by flirting with men in an effort to convince herself that she can still pass for young.But that isn't Dodsworth's issue. After 20 years of being a very successful business executive, he only knows how to define himself in terms of business deals. When he has no deals to arrange, he has no feeling of accomplishment or self-worth.It takes a major readjustment for him to discover that he can also be someone else, and find fulfillment in something else. It doesn't come easily to him, but he does finally find it.Like Lewis' novel, this is a story particularly suited to American men who are themselves arriving at retirement and will need to find another way of seeing themselves. The novel is even better, but this is one very fine movie. Do something else during the first 50 or so years of your life. But then, as retirement starts to loom, read the book and watch this movie. It will give you something to think about as you start your second life - so that it is, indeed, a life.--------------------------------After another viewing: If you take a great script, have it performed by uniformly first-rate actors under the helm of a first-rate director, you might, if you're lucky, get a film as good as "Dodsworth". You might, if you're lucky. This is really one first-rate movie. If you've never seen it, treat yourself.