Dodsworth - 1936

This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1990.

The play opened on Broadway on 24 February 1934 and had 315 performances. Walter Huston, Harlan Briggs and Charles Halton reprised their stage roles in the film, but Halton's footage was cut from the final print. Also in the opening-night cast were Fay Bainter as Fran Dodsworth, Hal K. Dawson, Beatrice Maude (also in the film), Ivan Miller, Kent Smith, Ninetta Sunderland (Huston's real-life wife) and Frederick Worlock.

David Mamet, in his book "Bambi vs. Godzilla", cites this film as one of his favorites.

William Wyler spent a whole afternoon shooting the sequence where Fran (Ruth Chatterton) burns a letter from her husband; he wanted the letter to specifically blow gently along the terrace, stop for a moment, and then continue to flutter as the scene faded to black as a metaphor for Fran and Sam's failing marriage.

Mary Astor wrote in her memoirs that Edith Cortright was her favorite role, also reflecting that she channeled her struggle of her public divorce into her role: "When I went into court and faced the bedlam...that would have broken me up completely, I kept the little pot boiling that was Edith Cortright."

At the time of filming, Mary Astor was going through a very public and very scandalous divorce from her husband, who used Astor's diary to prove that she had been having an affair with playwright George S. Kaufman. With the press constantly stalking her, she sometimes slept on the set to avoid confrontation. Many of the cast sided with Astor throughout the ordeal, including William Wyler, Samuel Goldwyn and Ruth Chatterton, who appeared as a character witness on Astor's behalf.

The original Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theater and ran for 147 performances.

Cast of Dodsworth

Walter Huston ..... Sam Dodsworth
Ruth Chatterton ..... Fran Dodsworth
Paul Lukas ..... Arnold Iselin
Mary Astor ..... Mrs. Edith Cortright
Kathryn Marlowe ..... Emily Dodsworth McKee
David Niven ..... Captain Clyde Lockert
Gregory Gaye ..... Baron Kurt Von Obersdorf
Maria Ouspenskaya .....Baroness Von Obersdorf
Spring Byington ..... Matey Pearson