Dodsworth **** (1936, Walter Huston, Mary Astor, Ruth Chatterton, David Niven, Paul Lukas) – Classic Movie Review 6428

Walter Huston, Mary Astor, Ruth Chatterton, David Niven and Paul Lukas star in director William Wyler’s heartwarming, life-affirming 1936 film from producer Samuel Goldwyn. Production designer Richard Day won an Oscar for Best Art Direction, and there were six other nominations, including Best Picture.

It is based on Sidney Howard’s stage version of Sinclair Lewis’s story of the nice, retired US American businessman Sam Dodsworth (Huston) and his snobbish, scared-of-ageing wife Fran (Chatterton) travelling to Europe and finding different friends and priorities. Huston meets sympathetic widow Edith Cartwright (Astor) and they guiltily embark on an affair.

Director Wyler geared up Huston (memorably re-creating his stage role) and Astor (as his scintillating romantic interest) to entrancing acting that is among the best of their careers, and Maria Ouspenskaya is also outstanding. Huston was Oscar nominated as Best Actor and Ouspenskaya was Oscar nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing Baroness Von Obersdorf.

The film is persuasively scripted by Oscar-nominated Howard (meticulously adapting his own play) and handsomely photographed in black and white by Rudolph Maté, with score by Alfred Newman. This intelligent and involving drama may have dated a little but it remains a treat.

Also in the cast are Gregory Gaye, Odette Myrtil, Spring Byington, Grant Mitchell, John [Howard] Payne, Kathryn Marlowe, Harlan Briggs, Beatrice Maude and Charles Halton.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6428

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com