I actually like this considerably more than Cukor's version. Fassbinder's familiar sparse, stylized approach eliminates a lot of the schmaltzy sentimentality that hampered the earlier film (somewhat understandably, considering that was a '30s studio film after all), also eliminating things like the insufferable child actor as the daughter can't help but be an improvement. If anything, i imagine this is far closer to the spirit of Luce's original play.

Watching this right after Cukor's The Women makes it feel, weirdly enough, like a Hal Hartley film. Maybe it's because I know so much of the dialogue (watched Cukor's twice) that it feels kind of deadpan. Combine this with the beautiful artifice of the whole thing (it's basically a filmed play) and you weirdly got the best of Fassbinder's worldd\s (Brecht and Sirk-inspired eras) but unfortunately, he kind of fucks up the point of the movie with his, you know, blatant misogyny.