Dinner at Eight

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest
Review: Any movie with Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler is going to be delicious, as this certainly is. One of the greatest of all time. MGM had just completed its star-laden Grand Hotel, and while everyone was idle during early 1933, this stellar cast was assembled to make a movie from the original Broadway play. Marie Dressler, 64 at the time, plays the part of Carlotta Vance(based on Mrs. Patrick Campbell)as she barges into every scene and rubber-faces it when necessary. Most do not realize she was ill with cancer at the time, dying the next year. Louise Closser Hale is delightful as cousin Hattie. Hale died in a car accident later in 1933. The great dislike between Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery in real life shines through in the climax argument they have when his manhandling her looks very real.The wonderful Billie Burke is perfect as the scatterbrained social climber. John Barrymore basically plays himself. Originally, Clark Gable was to play the doctor, and Joan Crawford to play Paula Jordan, but they had prior obligations, so declined. This is a must-see, and is as fresh today as it was in 1933.

Rating:
Summary: A MAGNIFICENT TIME CAPSULE FROM 1933.
Review: DINNER AT EIGHT is great fun to watch due to the stellar cast of these uniquely talented stars of the early thirties. Marie Dressler is fun as the stage actress Carlotta Vance - she's both natural and hilariously affected in her broad playing of a grande dame who's seen better days financially. When Oliver Jordan's fifty - something secretary, (Elizabeth Patterson) tells Carlotta that she relished seeing Vance in her swan song performance - when she was a little girl - Carlotta retorts with a venomous glare "HOW EXTRAORDINARY"! - "We must talk of the CIVIL WAR someday, just you and I"! Lionel Barrymore succeeds in getting sympathy from the audience as Oliver Jordan, the dying shipping magnate: he's hiding the inevitable from his self-centered, social climbing wife. Jean Harlow plays Kitty Packard, a sexy, wisecracking floozie: her afternoon exercise is reading movie magazines and eating bon bons in bed. Wallace Beery plays the uncouth Dan Packard with whom Kitty has a sensational squabble about her origins and his flat-chested first wife. Billie Burke gives a downright sparkling performance as the foolish, fluttery and totally self-absorbed Millicent (this is, perhaps her best performance.) John Barrymore is always a fascination, yet his playing seems rather hammy and obvious in this, Madge Evans is a 1933 moderne and Lucy is played by the antiseptic Karen Morley. Lee Tracy is brilliant and chilling as Barrymore's agent who has to reveal to the once great star that he's THROUGH. Hilda Vaughn is Harlow's conniving maid; she slyly suggests that a diamond bracelet would suffice just fine in exchange for keeping mum about the doctor (Edmund Lowe) who makes Kitty "feel better" during the day! You will be enchanted by this Cukor classic which is a star-studded delight from 1933.

Rating:
Summary: DINNER AT EIGHT: An Odd Blend of Comedy & Pathos
Review: DINNER AT EIGHT is one of those rare films that blur the distinction between comedy and drama. It is really a ticking time bomb in which a huge star-studded cast plan to converge for a formal dinner given by a secretly broke but still regarded as wealthy Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore)and his wife the social butterfly Millicent (Billie Burke). These two plan the dinner but share the dramatic focus with a large supporting cast and a number of improbable subplots, all of which are neatly tied together by the closing reel.

When DINNER AT EIGHT was released in 1934, the Depression had been ripping apart America's social fabric for nearly four years. The film contains several pointed barbs that suggest that even in the celluloid world of Hollywood make believe, the crushing reality of broken financial dreams lurks uncomfortably close. Simultaneously, the advent of talking pictures pushed the silent film industry into the recesses of America's recent memory. The brothers Barrymore were two of the very few silent stars to make this successful transition. Here, Lionel, as Oliver, is a sick elderly financier who is given a short time to live by Doctor Wayne Talbot (Edmund Lowe), who keeps himself busy by having an affair with upwardly mobile bimbette Kitty Packard (Jean Harlow), who is married to the crude Dan Packard (Wallace Beery). Oliver's daughter is Paula (Madge Evans), who has fallen in love with a much older Larry Renault (John Barrymore), a washed up sot of a silent film star who still thinks that huge paydays are in his future. Millicent plans a sumptuous party whose purpose it was to keep at bay the reality of the Depression that was then staring in through her fancy bay windows. The comedy drama blending of DINNER AT EIGHT is the natural result of an attempt to fuse the seemingly disparate elements of light drawing room comedy with the collapse of a morality symbolized by the hucksterism of Dan Packard and sleazy social climbing of his wife Kitty.

Director George Cukor succeeds in this fusion by channeling most of the comedy into a subplot of a disastrous marriage between Kitty and Dan. Their several scenes of marital discord are quite funny as she claims that this upcoming party will make a lady out of her--if it does not kill her first. The real star, however, is grande dame Marie Dressler, who, as Carlotta Vance, functions as a comedic chorus passing off witty barbs, including the famous closing line double take when Kitty bewails that modern technology will soon render all human interaction, including her own sensual nature, as obsolete.

DINNER AT EIGHT is a genuine pleasure to watch. None of the more than twenty-five stars is allowed to dominate although each makes maximum use of their screen time. Part of the joy of watching how laughter could blend into tears was in never being quite sure whether any one scene was meant to elicits gasps of laughter or howls of pain.

Rating:
Summary: DINNER AT EIGHT: An Odd Blend of Comedy & Pathos
Review: DINNER AT EIGHT is one of those rare films that blur the distinction between comedy and drama. It is really a ticking time bomb in which a huge star-studded cast plan to converge for a formal dinner given by a secretly broke but still regarded as wealthy Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore)and his wife the social butterfly Millicent (Billie Burke). These two plan the dinner but share the dramatic focus with a large supporting cast and a number of improbable subplots, all of which are neatly tied together by the closing reel.

When DINNER AT EIGHT was released in 1934, the Depression had been ripping apart America's social fabric for nearly four years. The film contains several pointed barbs that suggest that even in the celluloid world of Hollywood make believe, the crushing reality of broken financial dreams lurks uncomfortably close. Simultaneously, the advent of talking pictures pushed the silent film industry into the recesses of America's recent memory. The brothers Barrymore were two of the very few silent stars to make this successful transition. Here, Lionel, as Oliver, is a sick elderly financier who is given a short time to live by Doctor Wayne Talbot (Edmund Lowe), who keeps himself busy by having an affair with upwardly mobile bimbette Kitty Packard (Jean Harlow), who is married to the crude Dan Packard (Wallace Beery). Oliver's daughter is Paula (Madge Evans), who has fallen in love with a much older Larry Renault (John Barrymore), a washed up sot of a silent film star who still thinks that huge paydays are in his future. Millicent plans a sumptuous party whose purpose it was to keep at bay the reality of the Depression that was then staring in through her fancy bay windows. The comedy drama blending of DINNER AT EIGHT is the natural result of an attempt to fuse the seemingly disparate elements of light drawing room comedy with the collapse of a morality symbolized by the hucksterism of Dan Packard and sleazy social climbing of his wife Kitty.

Director George Cukor succeeds in this fusion by channeling most of the comedy into a subplot of a disastrous marriage between Kitty and Dan. Their several scenes of marital discord are quite funny as she claims that this upcoming party will make a lady out of her--if it does not kill her first. The real star, however, is grande dame Marie Dressler, who, as Carlotta Vance, functions as a comedic chorus passing off witty barbs, including the famous closing line double take when Kitty bewails that modern technology will soon render all human interaction, including her own sensual nature, as obsolete.

DINNER AT EIGHT is a genuine pleasure to watch. None of the more than twenty-five stars is allowed to dominate although each makes maximum use of their screen time. Part of the joy of watching how laughter could blend into tears was in never being quite sure whether any one scene was meant to elicits gasps of laughter or howls of pain.

Rating:
Summary: Social Climbing
Review: Dinner at Eight offers a chance to see some of the greatest stars of the early Thirties all together in one film. Lionel Barrymore stars as a failing businessman whose wife, Billie Burke, is putting on a dinner party for an English nobleman. Their engaged daughter Madge Evans is in love with an alcoholic has-been actor John Barrymore, while Lionel's doctor Edmund Lowe is having an affair with Jean Harlow, the wife of Lionel's business opponent Wallace Beery. Added into this mix is Marie Dressler as an aging former actress and friend of Lionel's who is in need of money. It's quite a collection of characters coming together for one evening, especially when they are played by the actors in these roles. Jean Harlow gives one of her best performances as the tough social climber, and her fight scenes with Beery are well played by both. The Barrymore brothers have the serious roles in the film and play them with great skill, with special credit going to John who comes so close to playing himself it's almost uncomfortable to watch. Burke is very funny as the hostess trying to impress everyone as her party falls apart. However, it's Dressler who has some of the best lines, and she plays them with relish. Her acting in the closing scene alone makes the video worthwhile. Yes, it is very talky and episodic as it moves from one subplot to another, but it all comes together at the end very well. I do wish music had been included on the soundtrack, but this was early in the era of sound. But it's a funny, honest, and sophisticated comedy, and movie fans will want to seize the opportunity to see so many great stars in peak form!

Rating:
Summary: Join The Stars For Dinner At Eight
Review: This great MGM classic "Dinner at Eight", would surely have to be one of the best drama/comedy compilations to come out of Hollywood in the 1930's. Always labelled one of the "all star" specials produced by the studio at this time, that is to do this wonderful film an injustice as it contains excellent writing and well crafted performances as well as an excellent cast that performs this witty and at times also tragic story to perfection. And what a cast! It exemplifies MGM at its finest with Lionel and John Barrymore, Marie Dressler, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery and Billie Burke among many others helping to make "Dinner at Eight" a viewing experience to cherish.

Using the scenerio of an upcoming dinner party the writing team of Herman J. Mankiewicz and Edna Ferber fashioned a unique screenplay from the popular Moss Hart/Edna ferber stage play that tells of the 24 hours in the lives of a small group of individuals who have received an invitation to the dinner in question. Hosted by the fluttery Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke in another of her dippy society matron roles), who has managed to bag English gentry for the swank evening, she experiences all sorts of unforseen complications as the evening approaches. The dinner also sets off all sorts of dilemmas for the invited guests too as we see the final decline of once famous actor Larry Renault (John Barrymore in a brilliant performance) into alcoholic destruction that finds him demoted from the lead in a new play which was to be his great come back, to a walk on part which propels him to suicide. Shipping Magnate Oliver Jordan, Millicent's husband (Lionel Barrymore) comes to terms with his terminal heart troubles with the realisation that his business is also going under. Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler)experiencing money troubles reluctantly excepts the dinner invitation and finds herself caught between Millicent's daughter Paula (Madge Evans) and her secret love for Larry. Dan and Kitty Packard, the feuding, foul mouthed upstart couple have their own reasons for excepting the invitation, Kitty because she wants to rub shoulders with high society uttering the immortal line ,"I want to become a real lady if it kills me!" and Dan wants to go to be able to conclude his business deals and buy up some valuable stock in Oliver's company.

The actual dinner of the title begins as the film concludes but leading up to it we as viewers are treated to some top class acting from this superb ensemble of gifted actors. MGM quoted as having "more stars than there are in heaven" definately proves that here with its top rate cast at their peak. However it is the sure direction of George Cukor and the strong writing that make this a memorable viewing experience and an accurate and at times scathing documenting of depression era values of all classes in society. John Barrymore has rarely been better than as the tragic washed up actor which sadly resembles himself in later life and Jean Harlow really broke through into the upper levels of the MGM hierachy with her playing of the loud, brassy strumpet climbing the society ladder. As with the earlier all star effort "Grand Hotel", no expense was spared here from Cedric Gibbons beautiful interiors ranging from over the top for Jean Harlow's garish bedroom to sedately tasteful for the Jordan residence. Adrian's sublime designs for the women were some of his most famous ever with Jean Harlow's clothes in particular going down into 1930's film costume folklore.

I find "Dinner at Eight", to be by far the best of the multi plot all star stories produced during the 1930's and it constantly amazes me at the sheer star power the major studios and MGM in particular had at their disposal in the golden era. To see such stars of the 1930's as Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler, who were both to pass away before too many years had gone by is a rare treat for film buffs nowadays. This film really is what classic Hollywood is all about and even with the passing of time it is still as witty and relevant in it's character studies as it was in 1934. Dont miss this dinner party under any circumstances!

Rating:
Summary: Join The Stars For Dinner At Eight
Review: This great MGM classic "Dinner at Eight", would surely have to be one of the best drama/comedy compilations to come out of Hollywood in the 1930's. Always labelled one of the "all star" specials produced by the studio at this time, that is to do this wonderful film an injustice as it contains excellent writing and well crafted performances as well as an excellent cast that performs this witty and at times also tragic story to perfection. And what a cast! It exemplifies MGM at its finest with Lionel and John Barrymore, Marie Dressler, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery and Billie Burke among many others helping to make "Dinner at Eight" a viewing experience to cherish.

Using the scenerio of an upcoming dinner party the writing team of Herman J. Mankiewicz and Edna Ferber fashioned a unique screenplay from the popular Moss Hart/Edna ferber stage play that tells of the 24 hours in the lives of a small group of individuals who have received an invitation to the dinner in question. Hosted by the fluttery Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke in another of her dippy society matron roles), who has managed to bag English gentry for the swank evening, she experiences all sorts of unforseen complications as the evening approaches. The dinner also sets off all sorts of dilemmas for the invited guests too as we see the final decline of once famous actor Larry Renault (John Barrymore in a brilliant performance) into alcoholic destruction that finds him demoted from the lead in a new play which was to be his great come back, to a walk on part which propels him to suicide. Shipping Magnate Oliver Jordan, Millicent's husband (Lionel Barrymore) comes to terms with his terminal heart troubles with the realisation that his business is also going under. Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler)experiencing money troubles reluctantly excepts the dinner invitation and finds herself caught between Millicent's daughter Paula (Madge Evans) and her secret love for Larry. Dan and Kitty Packard, the feuding, foul mouthed upstart couple have their own reasons for excepting the invitation, Kitty because she wants to rub shoulders with high society uttering the immortal line ,"I want to become a real lady if it kills me!" and Dan wants to go to be able to conclude his business deals and buy up some valuable stock in Oliver's company.

The actual dinner of the title begins as the film concludes but leading up to it we as viewers are treated to some top class acting from this superb ensemble of gifted actors. MGM quoted as having "more stars than there are in heaven" definately proves that here with its top rate cast at their peak. However it is the sure direction of George Cukor and the strong writing that make this a memorable viewing experience and an accurate and at times scathing documenting of depression era values of all classes in society. John Barrymore has rarely been better than as the tragic washed up actor which sadly resembles himself in later life and Jean Harlow really broke through into the upper levels of the MGM hierachy with her playing of the loud, brassy strumpet climbing the society ladder. As with the earlier all star effort "Grand Hotel", no expense was spared here from Cedric Gibbons beautiful interiors ranging from over the top for Jean Harlow's garish bedroom to sedately tasteful for the Jordan residence. Adrian's sublime designs for the women were some of his most famous ever with Jean Harlow's clothes in particular going down into 1930's film costume folklore.

I find "Dinner at Eight", to be by far the best of the multi plot all star stories produced during the 1930's and it constantly amazes me at the sheer star power the major studios and MGM in particular had at their disposal in the golden era. To see such stars of the 1930's as Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler, who were both to pass away before too many years had gone by is a rare treat for film buffs nowadays. This film really is what classic Hollywood is all about and even with the passing of time it is still as witty and relevant in it's character studies as it was in 1934. Dont miss this dinner party under any circumstances!

Rating:
Summary: Delicious!
Review: This is a superb classic comedy. A series of events taking place in a single day culminating in "Dinner at Eight". Several characters are explored, mainly a rich industrialist who is about to lose his fortune in a hostile take-over by a "shady" business man who doesn't mind trampling people on his way up the ladder. Jean Harlow is pure eye-candy as a witty yet street-wise "gangster moll". Veteran character actress Marie Dressler is equally delicious as a once prosperous society lady, now dependent on charity from her "connections". -- This film is pure Hollywood magic from beginning to end. The story lost none of it's powerful bite in the nearly 7 decades that have passed since it was put on film. "Dinner at Eight" is in my all-time top 10!

Rating:
Summary: A Classic For All Time
Review: This is one of my favorite films - not just of the 1930s, but of all time. Rarely have I seen elements of both comedy and tragedy blended together so smoothly and seemingly effortlessly. The movie is nearly 70 years old now. Naturally, some parts of it are dated. Still, I suspect it was rather advanced in its views at the time. One character, Carlotta Vance [Marie Dressler], for example, is a faded beauty in her 60s who was once a great star. Instead of voicing regret that she has had many lovers and has always used men to advance herself financially, she exudes the confidence of one who has lived life to the fullest. And watch as she counsels the young Paula Jordon, who has taken and older lover and has decided to dump her dashing young fiancé. No moral platitudes from Carlotta, just some sage advice. In fact, all of the female characters are strikingly independent, despite the fact that men are, by necessity, their main source of income. I like these women!

MGM intentionally assembled the greatest cast it had on hand at the time. These were stars the public loved to see. This is from the days where there really were parts for older actresses. Ms. Dressler, who leads the cast in the credits, was sixty-five. The divine Billie Burke [Millicent Jordon], who I think was one of the funniest actresses who ever lived, was forty-eight. Jean Harlow, who plays the social climbing Kitty Packard, was just twenty-two, and Madge Evans [Paula] was twenty-four. Unlike today, the two older stars were not forced into subordinate roles. All of the actresses' parts have equal weight.

We have both Lionel and John Barrymore. John gives a heart-wrenching performance as Larry Renault, the alcoholic, washed up matinee idol Paula has fallen for. The role is eerily similar to his own life. Wallace Beery is hysterical as the oafish self-made millionaire, Dan Packard.

The plot is fairly simple. Millicent is planning a dinner party for the much sought after Lord and Lady Ferncliff, but trials and tribulations await her at every turn. Meanwhile, Oliver is about to lose the family shipping business. Carlotta thinks she is broke. Kitty is having an affair with a society doctor. And so forth. But the movie is about more than just a storyline. It's about great actors playing great characters. Times have changed, and so has society. Emotions haven't, and this is one emotionally charged movie. It remains fascinating and, in many ways, relevant. Best of all, it is great entertainment. And I almost forgot to mention the director was the inimitable George Cukor, one of the best who ever lived.

Rating:
Summary: Another gem from Hollywood's classic era
Review: This movie engaged me from the beginning, casting its line right to my easy chair and reeling me into its all too believable world of human triumph and tragedy. It is an example of what can happen when strong acting, strong writing and strong direction are brought together by people who DO NOT aim for the lowest common denominator, but rather, for the sophisticated audience who reacts warmly only to quality performance and credible story line. I also appreciated the structure and pacing, where subplots are introduced and then intertwined, and just the right time is taken to develop characters and story before changing the focus, so I could follow it.

See this for an evening of real entertainment. The only problem is, it will spoil you for any of the dumbed-down crapola that Hollywood has released in recent years.