Dodsworth (film)
Dodsworth is a 1936 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor and David Niven. Sidney Howard based the screenplay on his 1934 stage adaptation of the 1929 novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis. Huston reprised his stage role.
| Dodsworth | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | William Wyler |
| Written by | Sidney Howard |
| Based on | Dodsworth 1934 play by Sidney Howard Dodsworth 1929 novel by Sinclair Lewis |
| Produced by | Samuel Goldwyn Merritt Hulburd (associate producer) |
| Starring | Walter Huston Ruth Chatterton Paul Lukas Mary Astor David Niven |
| Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
| Edited by | Daniel Mandell |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
Production company | Samuel Goldwyn Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English (primarily), German, Italian |
| Box office | $1.6 million |
The center of the film is a study of a marriage in crisis. Recently retired auto magnate Samuel Dodsworth and his narcissistic wife Fran, while on a grand European tour, discover that they want very different things out of life, straining their marriage.
The film was critically praised and nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Huston, and Best Director for Wyler (the first of his record twelve nominations in that category), and won for Best Art Direction. In 1990, Dodsworth was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and recommended for preservation. Dodsworth was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies in 1997 and 2007.