While the movie isn’t at all political, it’s interesting to note that two famous “recovering liberals” count the movie among their favorites: playwright David Mamet, and comedian Dennis Miller, who chose Dodsworth when he served as a TCM “Guest Programmer.” (…)
Alone and away from home for the first time since their honeymoon, the voyage jostles open fault lines in the Dodsworth’s marriage that were previously papered over by routine and familial duty.
Sam considers the trip a second honeymoon, but Fran treats it more like a last-ditch, pre-menopausal “spring break.”
News that Fran is about to become a grandmother for the first time doesn’t help, as you might guess.
Being “a woman of a certain age,” I felt embarrassed for Fran, and myself, as I watched her trying her new “self” on for size: dying her hair blonde, putting on airs (along with fussy, flashy clothing she’s too old to pull off), fishing for compliments and, eventually, taking flirtations too far.
