Dinner at Eight
by Roy Mack, Jom McQuade, George Cukor
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Clinton Sundberg, Flavia Arcaro, Herschel Mayall, Jean Harlow, Margot StevensonDirector: George Cukor, Jom McQuade, Roy Mack
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 111 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-03-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Dinner at Eight
Movie Review: stunning character studies with comedy and tragedy that is as good as it gets
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of Dinner at Eight
Dinner at Eight a vastly entertaining behind-closed-doors glimpse into the lives of the troubled and troublemaking Who's Who of people invited to a posh Manhattan party is served with ample helpings of humor and melodrama. Buoyed by the success of the studio's multistarred multistoried Grand Hotel the year before producer David O. Selznick aspired for something grander - and found it in this George Cukor-directed adaptation of the George S. Kaufman/Edna Ferber stage hit. Highlights include Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery's bitter battle of the sexes hostess Billie Burke's tizzy fit and Marie Dressler's grande dame worldliness. Of course there's only one way to catch all the great moments. Dinner at Eight. Don't be late.Running Time: 111 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569507821MGM originally promoted Dinner at Eight by touting the "all-star cast," but this is no run-of-the-mill omnibus picture. On the contrary, rather than cramming as many big names as possible into a lumbering vehicle, the movie's impeccably crafted script (by Edna Ferber and Herman J. Mankiewicz) and direction (by George Cukor) gave some immortal screen luminaries a chance to shine. For sheer bravery, John Barrymore's achingly poignant performance as Larry Renault, a washed-up matinee idol who has "outlived everything but his vanity," is unmatched. Barrymore's brother, Lionel, is equally touching as shipping magnate Oliver Jordan. Oliver vainly tries to save his family's century-old firm, at the same time hiding his financial and health troubles from his wife, Millicent, played to hysterical perfection by Billie Burke. The Great Depression is presented in microcosm as Millicent frets about throwing the ultimate society dinner, oblivious to the world tumbling down around her. She is forced to invite to her precious party such undesirables as crass financier Dan Packard ("He smells Oklahoma!"). Even worse in Millicent's eyes than Packard (Wallace Beery, doing an impressive steamroller imitation) is his social-climbing wife, Kitty (Jean Harlow, never funnier than she is here, malingering in bed gobbling chocolates, or braying at her husband: "I'm gonna be a lady if it kills me!"). Be sure to watch for Harlow's brief encounter with Marie Dressler, who brings an extraordinary winking wisdom to the role of aging star Carlotta Vance. As the two enter the dining room in the film's final scene, Harlow makes an offhand remark that elicits from Dressler one of the great screen double takes of all time. Like so much of Dinner At Eight, the moment is priceless. --Laura Mirsky
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