Dodsworth (film)

Dodsworth
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWilliam Wyler
Written bySidney Howard
Based onDodsworth 1934 play
by Sidney Howard
Dodsworth 1929 novel
by Sinclair Lewis
Produced bySamuel Goldwyn
Merritt Hulburd (associate producer)
StarringWalter Huston
Ruth Chatterton
Paul Lukas
Mary Astor
David Niven
CinematographyRudolph Maté
Edited byDaniel Mandell
Music byAlfred Newman
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • September 23, 1936 (1936-09-23)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish (primarily), German, Italian
Box office$1.6 million[1][2]

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.

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.[3][4] Dodsworth was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies in 1997[5] and 2007.[6]

  1. ^ "WHICH CINEMA FILMS HAVE EARNED THE MOST MONEY SINCE 1914?". The Argus. Melbourne. 4 March 1944. p. 3 Supplement: The Argus Weekend magazine. Retrieved 6 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ Quigley Publishing Company "The All Time Best Sellers", International Motion Picture Almanac 1937-38 (1938) p 942 accessed 19 April 2014
  3. ^ Gamarekian, Barbara (1990-10-19). "Library of Congress Adds 25 Titles to National Film Registry". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  4. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  5. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved Sep 13, 2020.
  6. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Ballot" (PDF). Retrieved Sep 13, 2020.