This is truly a remarkable movie.

It is staged beautifully. Acted superbly. And the directing, shooting and cutting is nearly flawless.

Certain scenes stay with me most vividly...

• Mary Astor warning Ruth Chatterton off of Paul Lucas with nothing more than a brief line and a quick look.

• Huston and Chatterton undressing while their marriage starts to crumble.

• Huston getting the wire from Europe, just after being so much of a blowhard with his family.

• Walter Huston connecting with Mary Astor in Italy.

If you're tired of the actual Hollywood teenager productions, you have a chance to see some maturity watching "Dodsworth". The relationship of the Dodsworths are amazingly realistic, and the wonderful performances by Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton only improve the reality of the situation. He is amazing as a retired middle-aged industrialist and she is faultless as his futile, snob and frustrated wife. This film also got me some extra points because of Mary Astor, at the highest point of her beauty. It's masterly directed by William Wyler, and the cinematography is wonderful. One of the greatest films from the first decade of the sounded films.