1936: Dodsworth (93rd)

What else happened this year? A contentious Olympics in a fascist state. Plus ca change, huh?

What is the plot - in one sentence? We follow a guy and his (new-ish) wife as they travel Europe after he sells the shares in his company.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? She ends up ‘dancing’ with men from various cities, having affairs with others, and constantly belittling him. He decides to go back with her to America, then changes his mind and goes back to a nice, much prettier by today’s standards anyway, woman who lives in Italy and inspires him.

What is the meaning of the title? It’s the name of the main character, why don’t you. From some research, it seems this is based on a book.

Spoilers, but this is from the last scene in the movie. He returns to her, and she wasn't expecting it, so she waves to him. She waves in a way that no human being has ever waved before.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? Incredibly no, despite the main woman’s rogueish behaviour. Something which hasn’t aged is at the end, in a fit of inspiration Dodsworth gets a plan to work out a delivery system, which he describes as working, especially if they get help from the USSR, who seem nice fellas.I think he's due for a business failure there.

Any thoughts? I mentioned in the piece from 2000, that I hadn’t ever seen the main actor before, and it turns out that Dodsworth here, a Houston, is his grandfather. The director John is between them, generation wise.

Speaking of links between movies on this feature, David Nivven appears here a creeper looking to hit on Dodsworth’s wife. Pretty much the same thing he was doing in the 1963 movie. A brief look online suggests that David Nivven doing this here means that he’d been acting as a womaniser since before Claudia Cardinale was born. 

No wonder that scene creeped me out so much. In this movie, she also has a German guy, an Austrian guy, and an old Russian as her lovers, which Dodsworth tolerates for whatever reasons. She’s also a bit of a drag, and it’s a pretty thankless role for the actress, but we're all glad to see her left on the boat at the end.

The movie ends with Dodsworth ditching his wife for a pretty and elegant woman on an Italian island, which seems a bit Porco Rosso to me. 

Would you recommend this? Yeah, sure, it was nice, I don’t know if they really travelled to all these places, but they implied they did, and in this shitbox lockdown, I’m happy with that. This is a better romantic tale than some of the others I’ve seen on this feature, that’s for sure, and the two right characters are together at the end.

Final thoughts? At various points, the (presumably) new Mrs Dodsworth gets angry because people assume she’s 35. She really gets the hump, but if she’s not a new wife, she’s got an adult daughter at home in the states. I dont see the fuss.

Just before he meets his Italian friend / lover again, he's in Italy in a holiday office looking for things to do. He's bored, and frustrated because of his wife, and he's a complete cunt to everyone in the office. When she recognises him she offers him a tour in her car, when she really should have set him on fire or something.

I’ll also say that 1936 seems to be the year that waistlines were at their very highest.

That's 1936 done, if you'd like to see some of your favourite years, why not click here?