Dodsworth

My wife and I have been married for nearly thirty years as of this writing. Both of us hold full-time jobs and have, on average, a single day a week where we see each other more than just in passing. We love each other very much but have spent far more time apart than together. One of my greatest fears is for us to retire and find that we work best when we are not always in each other’s presence. Often I read in the news about some couple that is together for twenty years or more getting divorced, and I wonder how a couple can dedicate that many years together only to have it fall apart. I also read that some couples only stay together for the sake of their children, and once the kids have grown and moved out, divorce isn’t too far off. I would like to think our love is stronger than that, but it really hasn’t been put to the test of retirement and/or empty nest syndrome.  

I couldn’t help but think about all of that while I was watching the 1936 pre-code film Dodsworth. This movie, nearly ninety years in the past, really hits home how retirement changes the dynamic in the home, and couples can have entirely different ideas about life after work, ideas that are incompatible with each other. Of course, with the world we currently live in, retirement may not even be an option for most people anymore. Who can afford it, even with a decent 401(k)? The world we live in is vastly different from the one of the 1930s, but the emotions, the fears, and the relationships remain largely unchanged. There are things about this film that depressed me a great deal. There are also things that I very much liked. It was a roller coaster ride watching it this morning, and I’m glad I went into it knowing nothing about it. 

Sam Dodsworth (Walter Houston), a self-made man, sells the company he founded 20 years prior in a small midwestern town. Naturally, those that know him best, such as his banker and friend, warn him that men like them are only happy when they are working. Sam, however, is optimistic about retiring and talks of the extended European vacation he and his wife, Fran (Ruth Chatterton), are taking. Fran sees this trip as a way to escape the dull social life she has been living thus far. 

While sailing aboard the RMS Queen Mary to England, both of them meet up with people who seem to have more in common with them than they do each other. Sam frequently has long conversations with Edith Cortright (Mary Astor), an American divorcee currently living in Italy. She shares his interests in expanding his understanding of the world and broadening his horizons. Fran indulges in flirtations with a handsome Englishman played by David Niven, but things turn sour when he suggests they make their relationship more serious. When she rejects him, he berates her, which leaves her humiliated. To avoid running into him again, Fran convinces Sam to bypass England altogether and travel straight to Paris. 

Once there, she begins to pass herself off as younger than her years, a sophisticated world traveler of high society. As time passes, she grows more bored with her husband since he is primarily interested in being a tourist. This leads her to cultured playboy Arnold Iselin (Paul Lukas), who invites her to travel with him to Montreux and Biarritz. Sam, who wants to return home, acquiesces, allowing her to stay in Europe while he leaves. They continue to drift further apart, and Fran wants to divorce. She begins seeing the young Baron Kurt von Obersdorf (Gregory Gaye). Sam eventually returns to Europe and runs into Edith again. With divorce inevitable, he strikes up a relationship with Edith. Meanwhile, Fran runs into the immovable obstacle that is Kurt’s mother (Maria Ouspenskaya). This woman refuses to grant her blessing for Fran and Kurt to be married, and he will not marry her without that blessing. Fran, in desperation, knowing she has no money now without Sam, tries to remedy the tattered remains of her marriage, driving a wedge between him and Edith. 

At the heart of it all, this is a study of an incompatible marriage that has only lasted as long as it has because both parties spent so little time with each other. Now that Sam is retired, he is getting an opportunity to really learn who the woman he married is, and it is eye-opening.  Marriage is a matter of give-and-take. It requires both sides to actively work to make each other happy. There is no room for selfishness in the bonds of matrimony. It helps when the two parties involved have a lot in common, of course, but there has to be some give in matters where you don’t have something in common. In this case, while both sides are guilty of selfish acts, Fran is by far the worst offender. She is actively looking to escape what she considers a boring marriage, pushing her husband away so that she can stay in Europe and enjoy the finer things in life. We get no real sense of what her life was like with Sam while he was working, which is one of the key problems with this script. We get the sense, though, that it boiled down to him not wanting to entertain and throw lavish gatherings, leaving her at home doing nothing. 

The chief stumbling block for her divorcing Sam and marrying Kurt is religion. Kurt’s mother doesn’t believe in divorce because it is against their religion. On top of that, she wants someone to carry on the family line, and she does not see Fran as the type who will want to have any more children, both because of her desired lifestyle and because of her age. Fran is trying to act younger than she is, but it isn’t fooling the mother. Kurt wants Fran to wait and see if they can change his mother’s mind, but Fran knows better. She also knows that if she now divorces Sam, she will be without money, destitute, prompting her to call off the divorce and send word to him that she wants to reconcile. 

This news reaches Sam even as he is planning his new life with Edith, a woman he is far more compatible with. Sam is the type of man who puts others before himself. This news about Fran wanting to reconcile upsets him, but he is willing to make the attempt. It naturally causes Edith great distress because she can see how this is tearing him apart and because she deeply loves him. This brings up another important message to consider. I don’t like the idea of divorce. I suspect that in most cases, divorce can be avoided if the two parties love each other enough to overcome their differences. The first 2-3 years of my marriage were filled with fighting as the two of us slowly got used to our differences and settled down. We could have easily given up and called it quits; I’m sure she wanted to from time to time during those early years. Eventually, things calmed down, and now we rarely fight anymore. But sometimes that doesn’t happen. Sometimes differences are too much to overcome, and divorce is inevitable. One should not live the rest of their lives in misery because divorce is not considered an option under any circumstance. That’s the kind of life Sam would be facing by going back to Fran. Fortunately, he realizes this before it is too late. 

Sam is such a well-written character. We get a good sense of his personality and what he values in life. Because of this, it is a major letdown that Fran is painted so flatly. She is a selfish, bitter, pleasure-seeker who puts herself before all else. It’s such a one-note performance by Ruth Chatterton that is not worthy of this film. There needed to be more nuance to this portrayal, but it just wasn’t there. This is primarily the fault of the script, which doesn’t allow for her to be a fully realized character. 

As a whole, this film tackles some rather important topics, especially the rising divorce rates. This trend has only gotten worse in the ensuing decades, and now many people look at marriage as a contract, something to be avoided so that they can dodge having to commit to a relationship. It’s a pandemic of selfishness and greed that has made the sanctity of marriage diminish in favor of “freedom” and self-centeredness. This was a problem in 1936 that was already big enough to gain the attention of the movies. Now it seems to be just a way of life. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Outstanding Production: Samuel Goldwyn and Merritt Hulbert

Best Director: William Wyler

Best Actor: Walter Huston

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Maria Ouspenskaya

Best Art Direction: Richard Day (won)

Best Writing (Screenplay): Sidney Howard

Best Sound Recording: Thomas T. Moulton

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Release Date: September 23, 1936

Running Time: 101 Minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, and David Niven

Directed by: William Wyler