Dinner at Eight (1934)

stunning character studies with comedy and tragedy that is as good as it gets

Dinner At Eight is an outstanding movie with great acting, a fine plot even if a bit complicated, and a wonderful cast! The movie held my attention every step of the way; and it's a much more artistic film with much more social commentary than I expected.

When the action begins, Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke) is obsessively planning a dinner party. Unbeknownst to Millicent, her husband Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore) is suffering from serious, life threatening heart problems--and their steamship freighter enterprise is going broke after a century-long life of being the family business.

As if that weren't enough, there's plenty more people with serious financial and personal problems that showcase human foibles as well the toll the depression took on even the wealthiest of people after the stock market crash. We meet Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler), an older actress who is broke. Carlotta sells her stock in the Jordan shipping business to stay alive; and she's not the only one selling her stock on that fateful day when so much of the Jordan stock is sold that the family fortune just might be in jeopardy. There is Wayne Talbot (Edmund Lowe) and his wife Lucy (Karen Morley) who tolerates Wayne's never-ending marital infidelities; and we also see that the only people climbing up the ladder are the comparatively crude and unsophisticated couple Dan and Kitty Packard (Wallace Beery and Jean Harlow).

Throughout the movie there are vignettes that display how cruel life can be. There is a rather long scene in which we see the poignant suffering of a man who was huge in silent pictures and who has gone broke and "washed up" now that the "talkies" are in style. John Barrymore brilliantly plays Larry Renault and his story is told with great care and sophistication. I admire the way George Cukor directed Larry Renault's part of the story.

Of course, the plot can go anywhere from here--how will Larry Renault handle the fact that he's through in show business? What happens when Lucy Talbot catches her husband Wayne cheating on her yet again--this time with Kitty Packard? How do the Packards even manage to stay together--they fight all the time. Moreover, when and how will Millicent Jordan ever come back down to Earth and realize that there are many things in life that are infinitely more important than her dinner party? No plot spoilers, here, folks--you'll just have to watch the movie to find out!

The DVD's best extra is a Sharon Stone hosted featurette on Jean Harlow which is very well done. The Vitaphone short "Come To Dinner" is amusing as well.

Dinner At Eight is a film that has so many wonderful actors and so much depth and meaning that it simply must be seen to be truly appreciated. I highly recommend this film for fans of the actors and classic movie buffs will cherish this DVD for years to come.
May 25, 2008

One of the best!

This classic has it all - wit, a fast-paced plot, and a stellar cast. A must-have for all! March 2, 2008

High society during Great Depression

This movie was adapted from the work of George Kaufman and Edna Ferber by Frances Marion and Herman Mankiewicz, casting some of the best names in Hollywood. Brilliantly directed by George Cukor, the story is a character study of four individuals during depression era (1933), affected by love, greed, possible poverty, and infidelity. John Barrymore offers one of his finest performances as a down and out actor, Larry Renault, caught up with drinking, and in desperation commits suicide as he has no other way to go in a world that doesn't accept losers. Lionel Barrymore offers another great performance as Oliver Jordan, a shipping magnate and the CEO of a company, which is in financial ruins, and it is close to collapse unless a financier helps to save the company. Burdened with his heart problems, and his scatterbrained high-society wife, Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke) preoccupied with hosting a dinner party for rich and famous, and his only daughter in love with much older Larry Renault, is confronted with the realities of the Great Depression. Dan Packard (Wallace Beery) plays a devious and crooked financier who plots to gain from Oliver Jordan's company, and his unfaithful wife, Kitty Packard (Jean Harlow) who threatens him to do a good deed by spilling beans about his dirty scheme to Oliver Jordan, when Dan likes to file for divorce because of her infidelity. Marie Dressler as an aging star, Carlotta Vance is very entertaining; in spite of her own insecurities, she offers her wisdom to Paula Jordan (Madge Evans), when she gives her the news that her lover, Larry Renault committed suicide, and to Kitty Packard in the film's final scene.

If you are a fan of Jean Harlow, don't expect much from this movie as she is in a supporting role. Nevertheless she has offered a great performance in the company some of the Hollywood's greatest stars. With regards to the fans of John Barrymore, it is ironic that his final years in real life was somewhat similar to the character of Larry Renault as his addiction to alcohol and possibly Alzheimer's disease had significant impact on his movie career.
September 5, 2007

Dinner at Eight

Sharp ensemble piece (scripted by Edna Ferber and Herman J. Mankiewicz) gets the full MGM treatment, with peerless direction by Cukor and uniformly fine work from the stars. Both Barrymores are particularly good, along with the fabulous Dressler, whose final line caps a sublime evening out. Don't miss this grand old chestnut. June 20, 2007

One of the great sophisticated pre-code films

"Dinner at Eight" is a 1933 film that still holds up when viewed by today's audiences. How odd that it wasn't even nominated for an Academy Award. This could be because it is quite similar in form to "Grand Hotel", which won the Best Picture Oscar the year before. It really is more of a comedy/melodrama than pure comedy, since there is much tragedy unfolding during the movie. Aging star Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler) is broke, silent film star Larry Renault (John Barrymore) is "washed up" and a hopeless alcoholic, and Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore) is in danger of losing his shipping business. While these people are all struggling, the only characters that are doing well are the reptilian Dan and Kitty Packard (Wallace Beery and Jean Harlow). Dan Packard is a self-made millionaire with no ethics, and his wife is a gold digger with eyes for another man - her personal physician. The lives of the players all intertwine in ways that are unknown to them, with the depression-era message being that the rules of life have changed in ways that had never occurred in the U.S. before. The vice of the opportunistic social-climbing Packards is rewarded, while the well-heeled of yesteryear, playing by the rules of the past, have nothing but their memories and faded finery left to comfort them.

Of course, there are plenty of comic moments. Billie Burke's performance as Mrs. Jordon is hilarious as her prime concern is that her carefully planned dinner party is coming apart before her very eyes. She comes across as a kinder, gentler Marie Antoinette when she acts like the accidental destruction of her centerpiece dish, a lion-shaped aspic, is the end of the world. Although many have said that Jean Harlow steals this picture, and her talents do shine through, I think Marie Dressler's comic touches really help make the film. For example, when a forty-something secretary mentions that she saw Dressler's character perform "when she was a little girl." Dressler replies that the two must get together some evening and discuss the Civil War. Dressler also makes the very last scene of the movie. As everyone is going into dinner, she finds herself in conversation with Harlow's character. First off, she does a hilarious double-take when Harlow mentions she's been reading a book. Next,Harlow tells Marie Dressler how this book she has been reading says that machinery will soon take over every profession. Marie Dressler looks Jean Harlow up and down as only she could do and says "My dear I don't think you need to worry about that." April 17, 2007

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