Romancefest 2017: Dodsworth

The 1936 film DODSWORTH was directed by William Wyler and stars William Huston in the title role as a down-to-earth, self-made business man, who has just stepped down to retire from running his Dodsworth motor plant. His wife (Ruth Chatterton) wants to spend their retirement jet-setting around the world. She is obsessed with wanting to remain young and convinced that Dodsworth has grown into a boring old man who needs to lighten up.

At first things start out amiably, even though you know they're not perfect, but eventually the narrative becomes clear: this is the story of an ill-matched couple realizing too late they're not right for each other. They're both scared to split up but don't really want to be together. Huston is too boring and conventional for Chatterton and Chatterton has her eye on too many other men, as a result.

Both have flirtations, resist temptation, come back together, separate again, etc. At one point Huston returns home to be with his newly married daughter (Kathryn Marlowe) and her husband (John Howard) and the counterpoint between the stress of Huston's marriage and the happiness of his family's home life is strong.

On his travels, Huston meets Mary Astor as a divorced ex-pat in Italy and they get along well. It looks like the spark of a nice relationship but of course Huston has to remain loyal to Chatterton. But how loyal is Chatterton to him? She becomes increasingly obsessed with night life, dating around, acting younger than her age. It gets to the point where both agree on a divorce, but even those plans are thwarted as Chatterton is forced to come running back to Huston.

That's when the final scenes of the film play out and they're great. This movie is refreshingly grown-up. It's about real, serious relationship issues and approaches them without much in the way of Hollywood's usual trappings. The devestating final scenes as Huston and Chatterton board a cruise ship to head back to America are the best in the movie, and Huston's final line to Chatterton is amazing. I don't want to give anything away but let's just say in those final moments their marriage finally, decisively ends, and Huston finally stands up for himself.