Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

vincentlynch-moonoi This film seems more dated than some made around this time, but despite that it is a favorite of mine, and one that I much admire. Deservedly, it was seen as one of the ten best films of the year and was successful at the box office. More recently, it was named one of the 100 best films of the past 80 years.Sometimes I'm disappointed when a star from a Broadway production is not carried over into the film version. Walter Huston was, here, but the wonderful Fay Bainter was not...and I'm glad, because she was such a wonderful actress I would hate to see her as such an awful wife! The story is a simple one -- the late middle-aged Sam Dodsworth (the wonderful Walter Huston), the head of his own automobile manufacturing firm, sells out for his wife's (Ruth Chatterton) desires. She is shallow and vain, and doesn't appreciate her husband or his life, which of course, has made her relatively wealthy. She pressures him to take her to Europe, which only allows her to take on airs as a sophisticated world traveler who flirts with European men (the first being a young David Niven, while Sam studies a light house; Niven popularity soared in a series of films that included this one). She decides to leave him for a questionable member of the nobility (Paul Lukas). Then an AUstrian. Meanwhile, in Naples, Sam reunites with a divorcée he met on the trip over (Mary Astor). They fall in love and spend some wonderful days in a seaside villa. Sam's wife's plan to marry falls through and Sam agrees to return to America with her. At the last minute...in a delightful scene...well, you can guess what happens.Walter Huston is simply wonderful here. Most people know him as more a character actor, but he was also a star in his own right. You'll probably despise Ruth Chatterton here, but she's good as being disgusting. Mary Astor had somewhat an up and down career, but she's very appealing here...probably one of her best roles.The supporting cast is interesting, as well. Maria Ouspenskaya has a key role as the old Austrian mother who says no to the marriage and tells Huston's wife she is old. A young John Payne has a small part as Huston's on-in-law. Spring Byington and Harlan Briggs play a slightly eccentric (charmingly so) couple that is friends with Huston and his wife.I struggled with giving this a rare "8", and I did. I so like this movie, and it easily earned a spot on my DVD shelf.

marcslope Amazingly adult for 1936, this Samuel Goldwyn/William Wyler adaptation of Sinclair Lewis's novel actually suggests that a decent man with an awful wife would do well to run off with an attractive divorcée. How un-Hays Code of it! The film reeks of prestige yet doesn't feel stuffy, and, Henry James-style, is firmly on the side of American unpretentiousness and hard work vs. European highfalutin-ness. There are flaws--scenes that end inconclusively or at the wrong moment, an intrusive Alfred Newman score, a Ruth Chatterton performance that might have been toned down a bit by Mr. Wyler--but they fade into insignificance against the resounding adultness of the themes and treatment. Walter Huston, probably the best actor we ever had, is at the top of his game here: Watch him in the scene halfway through, where he's rattling about his large antiseptic Midwestern home, miserable without the Mrs.--and Mary Astor is warm, assured, and utterly delightful as the realistic, straight-shooting woman who's his real match. And Spring Byington, whom I usually find annoying, sensitively underplays a Midwestern matron and makes a large impression in a small role. With an essentially soap opera plot, it manages to make larger points about aging, overcoming regret, and Old World vs. New World. Sinclair Lewis is not as well remembered as he should be, and this, the best screen adaptation of his work, is an excellent introduction.

Arcturus1980 I have limited experience with the works of Walter Huston and Mary Astor, both of whom sell this one for me. Notwithstanding its 8.3 rating, this is certainly not among my favorite William Wyler films. I like it about as much as The Little Foxes (a low 7/10).Ruth Chatterton's Fran is her husband's inferior mentally and morally. For me, the low points are when this pretentious woman is rather oddly gallivanting around with other guys in order to stave off old age. Her husband Samuel, who happens to 'adore' her, is no curmudgeon. It annoys me when a character I like is so committed to one I don't like for reasons that don't cut it for me. Fortunately, Mr. Dodsworth exhausted his tolerance by the very satisfying ending.I would have much preferred more on the relationship between Huston's Samuel and Astor's Edith, two very endearing characters. I'll be sure to prioritize my films to see list with them in mind.

Robert J. Maxwell In the opening scene, retiring tycoon Walter Huston bids farewell to his staff and leaves for home, taking a lingering last sentimental glance at his automobile factory and the choking effluential plumes of flue gas spewing out carbon monoxide and other contaminants and I thought, uh-oh, a gloomy story of a man dealing with role loss. As in, "I no longer work, so what do I do NOW, Ma?" Wrong, though. Huston is tickled pink to have time enough at last to do all the things he's been putting off, beginning with a trip to the capitals of Europe. He's happy as a clam on the Queen Mary. It's his wife, Ruth Chatterton, that's having the problem.It's not having a retired man lying around the house all the time either. That's Problem Number Two. She's suffering from Problem Number One. If my husband is now retired, that must mean I'm growing old.Her spirits are buoyed on the Continent though because she attracts the attention of a number of younger men, beginning with the debonair David Niven and extending in time to the suave, hand-kissing Paul Lukas, showering every woman with his pheromones the way Dodsworth's factories bathe their surroundings is particulate waste.Huston notices all this going on and when he's ready to return to his Midwest mansion, Chatterton wants to stay on for a while in Europe. She stays on for a while. Huston sullenly returns home to find his son-in-law and daughter have taken over the place, moving things around in his den, using his cigar humidor to plant bulbs in, and whatnot.So he returns to Europe where he finds his wife and Lukas sharing a vacation in Biarritz. A bit of friction, there, exalted in magnitude when Chatterton learns that she is now, gasp, a grandmother! Man, is she having a tough time accepting time. Huston meets Mary Astor and there is an electric arc. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds.So far I guess I've made it sound as if Huston is the good guy and Chatterton the mephitic slut but that would be the wrong impression. It's an adult movie. Huston's character may be a bit too much the man of principle, but Chatterton's character has a touch of pathos. She's considerably younger than Huston and isn't ready for the kind of role discontinuity that's being forced on her. Huston has gotten his kicks out of Europe and he wants to settle down and breathe the cold contaminated air of his home town. But what has she got to look forward to? Stretch marks, cellulite, Botox, and a man who shortly will show as much sexual interest in her as in a manatee. It's not a simple-minded flick. Even Lukas, whose role is that of the seducer, is given his due. She invites him into her flat while her husband sleeps in another room and he hesitates because he believes it to be wrong, though he confesses his love for her.But neither does much happen outside these family dynamics and rather routine romantic flings. I found the acting stiff. I like Walter Huston but in these kinds of films he's kind of hard to take seriously -- those sly, knowing, sideways glances; the stern and business-like tone of voice that varies so little. Chatterton's performance is professional but no more than that.I'd like to give it a better recommendation because it has ambition and reach, but it's a little dull and talky for me. Others might enjoy it more.