Wyler and Howard wrote a scene not in Lewis's book or the play in which Sam has his portrait sketched by an artist at a Paris cafe. Thinking his wife will enjoy it, he buys the cafe table and takes it back to the hotel. When Fran returns from shopping, Sam has gone out again, and seeing the table, she wipes it clean with an irritated gesture. Wyler decided to cut the scene from the script before filming, wiring Howard back in New York: "Tabletop scene will have to wait for another famous American movie." A similar scene was used by Francois Truffaut in Jules et Jim (1961) with Jules sketching a woman's face on a cafe table and Jim attempting to buy it. It's not known whether Truffaut had any knowledge of the Wyler-Howard scene.

Years later Goldwyn considered remaking Dodsworth with Clark Gable, but the project never came about.

A remake was also considered recently with Harrison Ford in the title role.

A television adaptation was aired in 1950 on the Prudential Family Playhouse with Ruth Chatterton recreating the role of Fran. Walter Abel played Sam, and a young Eva Marie Saint was also in the cast.

Sinclair Lewis's novels brought new words and phrases into the language. Main Street became an everyday reference for quiet, conservative small town life, while the title character of his novel Babbitt entered into common usage as a term for an unwavering conformist to middle-class values. "Dodsworth," however, did not become a part of the language. The rock group Aerosmith insists their name was in no way inspired by Lewis's novel Arrowsmith.

by Rob Nixon