Dodsworth

Walter Huston and Mary Astor in “Dodsworth”

There are certain movies I stop to watch whenever they pop up on TV, no matter how many times I’ve seen them. Pretty close to the top of my list is 1936’s “Dodsworth,” based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis. Fortunately we no longer have to wait for Turner Classic Movies to show it—the film is now available in a Blu-ray release, with image and sound both restored to pristine condition.

It’s an amazingly adult film, and not just in the context of its era. The Hays Code had been stringently enforced for two years at the time of this film’s release, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that while you watch. Certainly the subjects portrayed in “Dodsworth” weren’t routine fare post-Code: a middle-aged marriage falling apart, a married woman of a certain age openly displaying sexual interest in a man not her husband (or even her husband), a divorced woman living alone. The subtlety of the writing (by Sidney Howard, based on his stage adaptation of the novel), the acting and above all, the direction by William Wyler, make “Dodsworth” exceptional.

The participants in that twenty-year old marriage? Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston), a recently-retired auto magnate now eager to travel. His wife, Fran (Ruth Chatterton), a woman who now seeks adventure, eager to break away from their “half-baked town” (Zenith, Sinclair Lewis’s created midwestern city). They’re a true study in contrasts—he’s wonderfully genuine, she styles herself as a woman younger than her age (“Nobody takes me for 32, or even 30”), though she has a newlywed daughter. As we’ll see during the course of the film, their marriage gradually disintegrates under the weight of her vanity and his growing refusal to indulge her after so many years.

We begin with the Dodsworths sailing for Europe on the then-brand new Queen Mary (The Italian Line’s Rex makes a cameo appearance later in the film). En route we see two events of consequence: Sam makes the acquaintance of Edith Cortright (Mary Astor), a very attractive divorced expatriate on her way back to Italy, and Fran, trying to be sophisticated, flirts with the English Captain Lockert (an incredibly young David Niven), who takes her at her word and attempts a seduction on their last night out. When Fran angrily rejects him, he somewhat cruelly responds, stopping just short of calling her a tease and adding “Give up starting things you’re not prepared to finish…You think you’re a woman of the world but you’re nothing of the sort” (David Niven makes a great cad). The contrast between these two encounters could not be greater. Sam and Edith share an easy camaraderie from the start—he’s totally without pretense and she’s warm and intelligent. On the other hand, it’s clear Fran is out of her depth with Lockert from the beginning, and her later “Oh, Sam!” confession to her husband makes us sense trouble ahead.

And so there is. Fran becomes entangled first with Arnold Iselin (Paul Lukas), supposedly a financier and art collector, but who has “gigolo” written all over him, and later with Kurt, a titled but impoverished Austrian who’s several years her junior. Both relationships end abruptly, but not before the Dodsworths resort to separate bedrooms, followed by a separation as prelude to divorce when Fran announces her decision to accept Kurt’s marriage proposal. Her preoccupation with appearing youthful is an obsession—on more than one occasion she reminds Sam she was a child bride, and snaps at him “You’re rushing at old age and I’m not ready for that yet.” When her daughter Emily gives birth to a son, and Sam remarks “We’ll have to learn to behave ourselves since we’ll be a couple of old grandparents,” Fran looks like she’s been shot through the heart.

Alone, Sam travels to Naples where he encounters Edith Cortright again (The sequence of their near-misses in an American Express office is beautifully staged). She invites him to her villa for lunch where she proposes he move in with her rather than spend money on hotels. While she makes it clear her motives are strictly platonic, we know where this is headed. Walter Huston’s Sam Dodsworth is a very attractive man who draws the eye of more than one woman, and when he’s in Edith’s charming presence, we enjoy his enjoyment of life. Love and a desire to return to “doing,” as he foresees playing a role in aviation with Edith by his side, would seem to be the perfect ending.

But not before a huge bump in the road.

Her romance with Kurt having gone kaput, torpedoed by his Mama (Maria Ouspenskaya) in a classic confrontation, Fran drops the divorce and sends an SOS to Sam who sees no way other than to return to her and go back to America, much to Edith’s sorrow. We next see them on board ship, awaiting cast off, and it’s evident he’s not happy being there. It’s immediately apparent she’s learned nothing—she runs down Kurt and his mother, among others, and the topper is her “After all, when I look back, I don’t blame myself. . . You know, you were a good deal at fault too.” It’s this last that clinches the deal. Sam corners a steward to retrieve his bags and returns to Fran only to say “You and I can’t make a go of it any longer,” leading to her plaintive “What’s to become of me?” His rejoinder is something we’ve been waiting for throughout the film: “I don’t know. You’ll have to stop getting younger someday.” There’s a wonderful moment of suspense as to whether he can leave the ship before the gangplank is pulled up, and the last shot is movie direction at its finest—Edith’s expression as she spots Sam’s return is one of the most joyful close-ups on film.

“Dodsworth” is an exceptionally well cast movie. I’ve already sung Walter Huston’s praises, but the actors who appear with him match his artistry. You may want to yell “Grow up!” at Fran, but it’s Ruth Chatterton’s skill that makes her that way. And Mary Astor? Her Edith Cortright stands next to her portrayal of Brigid O’Shaughnessy in “The Maltese Falcon” as probably her best work. The rest of the cast is equally brilliant. Keep a lookout for Spring Byington as a Zenith friend of the Dodsworths whose key scene with Walter Huston is film acting at its finest, and don’t overlook the young and incredibly handsome John Payne as the Dodsworths’ son-in-law.

What a great movie.