Dinner at Eight

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.

What is most engaging and impressive about Selznick's take on the all star spectacle is that, unlike "Grand Hotel", he does not afford any one actor particular preference or even attempt to evenly space their on screen time. Rather, there is a strange sense - particularly from a star system as galvanic as MGM's - that the people being observed are just common folk on route to a flashy night on the town. The film also gives DVD audiences their only chance to admire the comedic stylings of one of Vaudeville's most gifted former actresses - Marie Dressler. In girth, stature and poignancy, Dressler is at her personal zenith - delving high comedy and low melodrama with equal panache. At one point in the evening, after having been told by Harlow's character that a book has explained that machinery is going to take the place of every profession, Dressler casually eyes the sultry Harlow from head to toe before commenting, "Oh my dear, that's one thing you need never worry about."

Warner Bros. DVD treatment of this classic star vehicle is about on par with their lack luster previous treatment of "Grand Hotel". Although the gray scale can exhibit some nicely balanced contrasts, solid blacks and clean whites, more often there is a sense that contrast levels are a tad too low and blacks are more deep gray than black. There is, at times, an excessive amount of age related artifacts for an image that is rarely smooth or easy on the eyes. Film grain is also obtrusive. The audio has been cleaned up but exhibits a fairly noticeable background hiss throughout. The Sharon Stone hosted bio on Harlow - which is all too brief, and a short subject: "Come to Dinner" are all the extras you get. A shame.

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.