Time of love, time of parting
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Time of love, time of parting |
| Original title | Dodsworth |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1936 |
| length | 101 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | William Wyler |
| script | Sidney Howard |
| production | Samuel Goldwyn |
| music | Alfred Newman |
| camera | Rudolph Maté |
| cut | Daniel Mandell |
| occupation | |
| |
Zeit der Liebe, Zeit des Farewell (Original title: Dodsworth ) is an American film with Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton directed by William Wyler from 1936. The film was based on the novel Sam Dodsworth (Original title: Dodsworth , 1929) by Sinclair Lewis and based on Lewis' novel-based play (1934) by Sidney Howard .
action
Sam Dodsworth is the extremely wealthy founder and president of the US automobile manufacturer Revelation Motor Company , which is based in the insignificant small town of Zennith in the Midwest . The self-made entrepreneur's life was characterized by constant work, while his wife Fran always perfectly took care of the domestic chores and the growing up of the now married daughter Emily. Fran is dissatisfied with life in Zennith, however, and gets the feeling that she has never really lived her youth. She persuades her husband to sell his company and take her on a longer trip to Europe. Sam's business partner Tubby warns him that a life without a job wouldn't suit him, but Sam, like his wife, is happy to finally see the rest of the world.
The couple crossed the Atlantic on the luxury liner Queen Mary . Even on the crossing, Fran blossoms and begins to be more interested in other men than in her husband. The no longer young, but still attractive Fran presents herself as a lady of the world and tries to disguise her real age with lies and cosmetic products. Meanwhile, on the boat trip, Sam meets Edith Cortright, a divorced and wise American woman who understands and sympathizes with Sam's desire to get to know new things despite his middle age. During her stay in Paris , resentments between Sam and Fran become increasingly evident: While she spends her time with the charming playboy Arnold Iselin and increasingly regards Sam as a staid bore, her down-to-earth husband is increasingly aware of the constant idleness and the decadent lifestyle of Fran's European friends annoyed.
Sam then returns to Zennith and wants to wait for her to return, but feels a longing for Fran again and is soon on his way back to Europe. The joy of seeing each other lasts only briefly: Sam has since learned that Fran has spent some time with Iselin in Montreux and Biarritz , and she lies to him in this regard. He correctly suspects an affair. Fran begs her husband to forgive her again and he agrees to continue the marriage as he still loves her. In the following months, however, it becomes apparent that the married couple, once perfectly attuned to one another in everyday life, has moved apart and the tension in the marriage can no longer be resolved. In Vienna , Fran falls in love with the Austrian baron Kurt von Obersdorf. When Kurt suggests that he would like to marry her, Fran asks her husband for a divorce.
Sam then travels aimlessly through Europe while the divorce is being arranged until he happens to meet Edith Cortright again in Naples . He then spends his time in Edith's idyllic residence in Naples. Through them, he finds peace and gains the confidence to plan new entrepreneurial projects. Sam proposes to Edith, which she happily accepts. In the meantime, Frans' longed-for wedding with Kurt falls through because his dominant and strictly religious mother rejects the American because of her divorce and her age - Kurt needs a son to continue the family line. Fran fears the loneliness and asks Sam to call off the divorce. Out of a sense of duty, Sam returns to her once more. They want to go back to America together. Already on the ship, Sam realizes that he feels unhappy in Fran's presence and that the marriage actually has no future. With the words that love must stop shortly before the suicide, he leaves the ship and decides to live together with Edith.
background
Sinclair Lewis was already a recognized writer when he published his novel Dodsworth in 1929 . The book follows in the tradition of Henry James and takes a concerned look at the conditions within American society. Just three months after publication, over 85,000 copies had been sold. In 1930 Sinclair Lewis became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature . Playwright Sidney Howard acquired the rights to the book in 1932 and created a theatrical production of the material that proved very popular on Broadway . The film rights went to producer Samuel Goldwyn . Howard and Goldwyn had already successfully brought a Sinclair Lewis story to the screen with Arrowsmith (1931). The story of an idealistic doctor featured Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes in the leading roles and proved to be very successful with audiences and press.
The occupation turned out to be difficult at times. Walter Huston , whose career had already begun in 1909, was almost 50 and thus the ideal candidate for the title hero, whom he had already successfully played in Howard's stage production on Broadway. Maria Ouspenskaya was also seen in the stage adaptation. Casting the role of Fran became more difficult. First, Fay Bainter , Huston's stage partner, should take over the part. Then Goldwyn chose Ruth Chatterton , whose film career began in 1928 in the last days of silent film . The sound film made Chatterton the highest paid star of Paramount Pictures , before bad scripts and a hasty move to Warner Brothers de facto ended her career in 1932/33. Goldwyn had to force the actress, who had not received any offers for a few years, to more or less force to play a woman over 40. Chatterton had remarkable parallels to Fran Dodsworth in that she also refused to admit that her youth was over and that she was being displaced by much younger actresses.
Mary Astor had seen better days when she was offered the role of well-bred and cultured Edith. Astor was a sought-after star in the mid-1920s, but her roles gradually faded, making more headlines from her tumultuous personal life and changing lovers than from professional success. Shortly before filming was finished, Astor was embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of the 1930s when her then-husband brought her diary into the ongoing divorce process and parts of it were published in the press. In it, Astor described in detail her affair with the well-known playwright George S. Kaufman . Gregory La Cava was to direct the film before Goldwyn decided on his own contract director William Wyler , who had only recently had a great success with the adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour . Wyler and Huston had known each other since filming A House Divided , a vaguely disguised version of Desire Under the Elms starring Helen Chandler from 1931. Both worked closely on the script and were mutually responsible for ensuring the character of the Fran was drawn softer and less materialistic.
synchronization
The German dubbed version for Zeit der Liebe, Zeit des Abschied was apparently made in 1977 in the Bavaria Atelier in Munich . The television premiere of the film took place on March 26, 1982.
| role | actor | German dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Dodsworth | Walter Huston | Joachim Cadenbach |
| Fran Dodsworth | Ruth Chatterton | Almut Eggert |
| Arnold Iselin | Paul Lukas | Manfred Andrae |
| Mrs. Edith Cortright | Mary Astor | Ursula Heyer |
| Captain Clyde Loosens | David Niven | Harry Wüstenhagen |
| Kurt von Obersdorf | Gregory Gaye | Peter Matic |
| Tubby Pearson | Harlan Briggs | Erich Ebert |
Awards
Oscar The film went to the 1937 Academy Awards with seven nominationsand won one of the coveted prizes:
- Best Production Design - Richard Day - won
- Best movie
- Best Actor - Walter Huston
- Best Supporting Actress - Maria Ouspenskaya
- Best Director - William Wyler
- Best Screenplay - Sydney Howard
- Best sound recording - Thomas T. Moulton
New York Film Critics Circle Award
- 1936 New York Film Critics Circle Award / Best Actor - Walter Huston
In 1990 Dodsworth was inducted into the National Film Registry . The film was also selected in the 2005 Time selection of the best 100 films from 1923 to 2005 .
reception
The film was one of the biggest commercial hits of the year and was unanimously acclaimed by critics. The New York Times led Dodsworth in their list of the 10 best films of the year.
"The film adaptation of the novel by Sinclair Lewis, which established the reputation and fame of its director."
Web links
- Time of love, time to say goodbye in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dodsworth at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Robert Osborne Celebration of Classic Film: DODSWORTH (1936). September 16, 2019, accessed on June 28, 2020 .
- ↑ German synchronous index | Movies | Time of love, time of parting. Accessed May 31, 2020 .
- ^ Dodsworth (1936) - IMDb. Accessed May 31, 2020 .
- ↑ Time of love, time of parting. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 27, 2019 .