When Ruth saw Fay Bainter in the stage production of Dodsworth she walked out during the last act. She didn’t approve of Fran, finding her to be an “unpleasant person.” Fran Dodsworth struck a chord that mirrored Ruth’s own obsessions. Samuel Goldwyn had to coax her for over year before she relented to play the role. By then, she claimed she was eager to play a role that was unsympathetic. She wanted audiences to know that she “could dish it out as well as take it.” Mary Astor put it succinctly, “Ruth didn’t like the role of … a woman who is trying to hang onto her youth—which was exactly what Ruth herself was doing. It touched a nerve. But she gave a beautiful performance in spite of herself.” As far as Ruth’s method … she learned early on from watching mentors such as Julia Dean, but most importantly actor/producer Henry Miller, her co-star and lover.
Ha! That first quote about dishing-it-out-as-well-as-taking-it sounds like the producer was adept at reverse psychology! He must have told her that someone didn't think she could do it.
I think you can feel that touched nerve and Chatterton herself coming through in
Dodsworth, in all her contradiction - it's sensational for that very reason. It make Fran one of the most fascinating movie characters of all time, maybe the
most fascinating, at least for me. I find a lot to empathize with in Fran, even though I don't like those characteristics in myself. I never tire of seeing the movie (though I have to be in a strong frame of mind to watch - it hits too close to home). It's easy to make Fran the bad guy, but I don't see it that way anymore. I am not quite sure who the bad guy is but I think he/she is still around. Our expectations of what women are and what they are supposed to do haven't changed all that much. I think perhaps everyone has a little Fran in them.
Chatterton brings that very modern sensibility to it (which is what drew me to her as an actress in the first place) - women nowadays have as much difficulty putting ourselves in Fran's shoes as Chatterton did. We don't want to be ONLY a wife or a mother. I think we look at Fran with a lot of horror now, because her wants are so connected to what we want as modern women, and those wants are so looked down on in the movie. We want to be desirable - even more so in this day and age of plastic surgeries and youth markets and anti-aging serums and ogling at people's bodies on TV or in magazines. We see her naked selfishness, her WANT, in ourselves and it isn't pleasant.
My question though, is about the casting of Fran - why did they want Chatterton so badly? I think I know the answer to this one, she's perfect for it! Was she the first choice? Did they try for anyone else, or have a second choice? I love Ruth, especially in that role, but I am also a huge Fay Bainter fan (perhaps another biography could be in the works?
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
) Was Bainter asked? Could they have borrowed her from MGM where she had just signed on? Or perhaps they tried to sign Bainter first at Goldwyn Studios? Was she just too much of a newcomer?
I loved what you said about
Lilly Turner. There IS no moral! and so no judgment on Lilly's behavior, quite refreshing. I would say that's one of the big pluses of the movie, and a consistent with Wellman's woman's pictures.
Did Kay Francis also learn to fly or have an interest in aviation? Did Kay lead you to your interest in Ruth? If not, what did?
Wendy