Dodsworth

Dodsworth is a 1936 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, and Mary Astor. 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.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It's very faithful to both the Sinclair Lewis' original novel and 1934 stage adaptation.
 * 2) Like the book that came before it, the film portrays the middle-age life and the lead's relation dramatically and realistically.
 * 3) Great performances from the majority of the cast that all feel very natural, including Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor and especially Walter Huston in the lead role.
 * 4) Well portrayed and written characters
 * 5) The title character, Sam Dodsworth is an extremely retable, sympathetic and fleshed out protagonist. Despite some of his flaws, he's aware of his wife's limitations and how empty his life was overall.
 * 6) His wife Fran Dodsworth, may be a narcissist worried about her current aging state who's pretty controlling over Sam, is portrayed as more sympathetic than in the book, since she wants to live out the good life before she's too old for it.
 * 7) Edith Cortright is a caring widow who understands Sam's issues he's going with.
 * 8) The ending had been changed from the original book it's based on, but it still manages to fit into the story's tone.