Industrialist Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) has worked hard all his life. Now he wants the romantic youth he never had. He sells the business and sets on a world tour with his wife, Fran (Ruth Chatterton), who turns out to be more susceptible to sexual fantasies than he. Then he finds a escape valve in a beguiling divorcee (Mary Astor). Will he take it? Will he realize, in the movie’s most famous line, that “Love has got to stop some place short of suicide”? This adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel, directed by William Wyler, shows Hollywood at its most mature, least judgmental — a movie that touches the heart without ever losing its head.
Top 10 Romantic Movies
From a sheik's son to a gay cowboy, these films get a heartfelt nod from TIME's Richard Corliss.