Sometimes you wish Orson Welles didn’t insist on acting in every production in his radio show. He’s ok as Dodsworth but not really up to the role; if Walter Huston couldn’t do it then Joe Cotten would have made a better fist. That aside this is a sensitive adaptation; the story works well on radio because it’s intimate drama. It’s also clear that the wife character has a good case – why shouldn’t she have some fun after being stuck in a dreary mid-western town with a husband who keeps referring to himself as a hick? She’s a little silly sure but she’s understandable; and also that divorcee woman could easily be a gold digger. Fay Bainter is very good as the wife – a lot better than Orson. This is yet another tale about mid-Westerners from him but at least this one isn’t nostalgic.
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