I have been searching around a bit and have found a few blogs that are similar to mine. Some just cater to classic movies, but one in particular is making his way through a list similar to mine. Although, he is also reviewing other movies as well. I am certainly not going to say anything negative about him, because he is far better at writing movie reviews than I am, and is clearly more into the art of film making etc as well. Mind you I have not been searching out my "competition" Ala Howard Stern. I usually find them when I am doing a bit more research on the film I want to talk about.
The other thing that I have noticed is that my blog is quite plain and thus may be a reason for people not reading. The page is nothing if not basic. I plan to tweak it a bit, but I must say it is not really my forte. I do like certain ideas that I have seen on other sites and wonder if I can incorporate that type of thing into my blog. Some may call it plagiarizing or stealing, but if I do add it, I will certainly give credit to the person who inspired that decision. The other thing I decided is I need to come up with some sort of rating system. Obviously, I can't use two thumbs up and stars and the point system is overused. So, I have to come up with something original, the problem is my mind is blank at the moment, so I will probably go with stars for the time being, until I get a hint of originality.
The movie up for discussion today is Dodsworth released in 1936. Dodsworth received 7 Academy Award nominations in total, and four in the categories that earned it a spot on our list. Walter Huston for Best Actor as Sam Dodsworth, Maria Ouspenskaya as Baroness van Obersdorf, William Wyler as Best Director, and it was nominated for Best Picture. Rounding out the cast are Ruth Chatterton as Fran Dodsworth, Paul Lukas as Arnold Iselin, Mary Astor as Mrs Edith Cortright, Kathryn Marlowe as Emily Dodsworth McKee, David Niven as Captain Clive Lockert, Gregory Gaye as Baron Kurt von Obersdorf, Spring Byington as Matee Pearson, and Odette Myrtil as Renee De Penable. The movie is based on the Sinclair Lewis novel of the same name released in 1929.
Sam Dodsworth sells his successful automobile manufacturing company to do what he has always wanted to do, retire and see a bit of Europe. His wife Fran also wants to see Europe, but has a somewhat different agenda. She does not like Zenith, the town they live in and was at one time a socialite, who finds Zenith to be a bit boring and basic for her. The back story on Fran is far more detailed in the novel than the movie, but more often than not that happens during the adaptation to the screen play.
They leave for Europe and Fran has a bit of a flirtation with Captain Lockert (David Niven), but Sam dismisses it as a one off fling. When he arrives in Europe he quickly realizes how wrong he was. He dislikes all of Fran's European friends. Fran dismisses this as Sam not being worldly enough and not as cosmopolitan as she. When she settles into an affair with Iselin, he decides to go back to the US. He wants her to come with him, but ultimately leaves for home with out her.
When he leaves he hopes she will come to her senses, but she does not. He finally decides he is going back and is going to get her back. He confronts her and Iselin and they decide to forget the past and try and make another go of it. This works for awhile, but runs into another hurdle while they are in Austria. This time it is final and they decide to get a divorce.
This is not the end of the movie, but I am always torn when writing the synopsis. Do I give away the whole thing. I feel like I shouldn't, because after all everyone should be able to experience the movie for themselves. It still pains me to this day that my son has seen the Lord of the Rings movies because he will miss the experience of reading the novels and being in suspense from chapter to chapter, not really sure what is going to happen. Granted my son may not love the books as much as I did, but I read them for the first time when I was 11 and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. So with that in mind, I am going to stop the synopsis here.
The first thing that struck me when I watched this movie was how racy the subject matter must have been considered back in 1936. Forget the affairs, but people did not get divorced in 1936. Well ok, I am sure some did, but not to the extent that they do now. I did a little searching to see if my thought was accurate. Turns out that between 1934-1938 the divorce rate was 1.6 per 1000 people as compared to 3.8 per 1000 people in 2010. So the rate has pretty much doubled since then, which is not as large a difference as I expected. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that divorce was certainly looked down on much more in the 30's and people tried to keep those things swept under the carpet.
The second thing that struck me is that Fran Dodsworth is probably one of the biggest bitches I have ever seen. Her fear of getting old is beyond childish and it is laughable how she sees herself as a woman of the world, yet thinks Sam to be nothing more than a rube. I won't lie, I hated Fran the further into the movie I got. Hated her more than any other character I can think of in a movie, with the notable exception of Mary Tyler Moore's portrayal of Beth in Ordinary People, but that is a rant for another day. I guess in the end, that is the sign of a good actor/actress. After all Fran is just a character, and Ruth Chatterton did a fantastic job portraying her and her mostly bad traits. Yet she was not nominated.
Walter Huston was solid in his performance as a down to earth man. He was clearly comfortable in his own skin and knew who he was. His affection for his wife is admirable but in my opinion downright sad. You can feel his internal struggle as he goes through it on screen. He clearly loves his wife, yet realizes they are very different people. Despite that he wants to stay with her and provide for her the best he can. Sadly, she does not reciprocate these feelings and at best does not belittle him directly. Huston's best scene though is definitely at the end of the movie when they both decide they are going to return to the United States. Unfortunately, I can't go into too much detail without giving away the end of the movie.
The other acting nomination went to Maria Ouspenskaya. She has one scene in the movie and what a scene. I find it somewhat impressive that in a movie that runs a bit over 90 minutes that she is on screen for maybe five minutes and on that basis earns a nomination. Which I might add she fully deserved. She plays Kurt von Obersdorf's mother and she does not approve of Kurt and Fran's impending nuptials, and she lets Fran know it! That is all I will say about the scene, I implore anyone who has never seen Dodsworth, even if you find you can't through the movie, which I doubt you will. At least fast forward to this scene, you will not be disappointed.
William Wyler was also nominated for directing on this film and in typical Wyler fashion, it was solid. He is better known for Ben Hur than probably any other movie, but he did a solid job on Dodsworth. He did not win, but the greats can't win them all. After all, he eventually won three Oscars and is second only to the great John Ford in directing Oscars.
Yet again I blogged about a movie that did not win any awards in the categories that are within the criteria for my list, however it did win for Art Direction. Here is a list of who was also nominated for Actor, Supporting Actress, Directing, and Picture that year. The winners were Paul Muni, Gale Sondergaard, Frank Capra, and The Great Ziegfeld respectively.
Best Actor
- Gary Cooper as Longfellow Deeds in Mr. Cooper Goes to Town
- Paul Muni as Louis Pasteur in The Story of Louis Pasteur
- William Powell as Godfrey Parks in My Man Godfrey
- Spencer Tracy as Father Tim Mullen in San Francisco
- Beulah Bondi as Rachel Jackson in The Gorgeous Hussy
- Alice Brady as Angelica Bullock in My Man Godfrey
- Bonita Granville as Mary Tillford in These Three
- Gale Sondergaard as Faith Paleologue in Anthony Adverse
- Robert Z Leonard for The Great Ziegfeld
- Frank Capra for Mr Deeds Goes to Town
- Gregory La Cava for My Man Godfrey
- W. S. Van Dyke for San Francisco
- Anthony Adverse
- The Great Ziegfeld
- Libeled Lady
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
- Romeo and Juliet
- San Francisco
- Story of Louis Pasteur
- A Tale of Two Cities
- Three Smart Girls
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