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Dinner at Eight

Marie Dressler , John Barrymore , George Cukor , Roy Mack    NR (Not Rated)   DVD
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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MGM 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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Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
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.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Nix Pix
Format:DVD
MGM, the studio with "more stars than there are in heaven" had only recently proved their point by putting six of their top talents in one film; "Grand Hotel" (1932). A clean sweep at the Oscars, the success prompted David O. Selznick - then a rival producer on the backlot - to devise his own all star melodrama of merit with "Dinner At Eight" (1933). The plot is threadbare but serviceable. Affluent hostess, Millicent Jordon (Billie Burke) is so enraptured at the prospect of throwing the society party of the decade that she eschews all other concerns in favor of the frivolities associated with such a swank soiree. Her roster of guests include the boorish social climber, Dan Packard (Wallace Beery) and his much younger wife of hot body but low class, Kitty (Jean Harlow), aging grand dame of the theater, Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler), family physician, Dr. Wayne Talbot (Edmund Lowe) and desperate has-been movie actor, Larry Renault (John Barrymore). Millicent's husband, the kind-hearted, good natured Oliver (Lionel Barrymore) has just discovered that he is fatally ill. However, acknowledging his wife's lack of feeling for anyone but herself, Oliver decides to forego divulging his diagnosis, presumably until after the party.

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.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
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.

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Most recent customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars A good example of how much acting has improved in 80 years
I bought this because of the cast. I was dismayed at the very poor acting and directing in this "so-called classic". Read more
Published 20 months ago by K. A. Brydges
2.0 out of 5 stars I expected more from Kaufman
The Broadway play Dinner at Eight came just a few years after Kaufman had written the stage versions of Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers for the Marx Brothers. Read more
Published on Dec 20 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars Join The Stars For Dinner At Eight
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. Read more
Published on Oct 25 2003 by Simon Davis
4.0 out of 5 stars Another gem from Hollywood's classic era
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. Read more
Published on Oct 12 2003 by paul_howard
5.0 out of 5 stars Dinner at Eight, 1933 model, caveat this dinner.
While checking for this movie on Barnes and Noble, a customer wrote that a large slice of this movie had been cut to eliminate the original stars and play up Garbos contribution as... Read more
Published on Jun 30 2002
4.0 out of 5 stars Social Climbing
Dinner at Eight offers a chance to see some of the greatest stars of the early Thirties all together in one film. Read more
Published on May 25 2001 by James L.
5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious!
One of the best all-star films the "Dream Factory" has ever turned out. By watching this film, one really feels like they know the characters intimately as if they were... Read more
Published on Feb 17 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars Rags to Ritches vs. Ritches to Rags
This is a superb classic comedy. A series of events taking place in a single day culminating in "Dinner at Eight". Read more
Published on Feb 3 2001 by Michael Mathena
5.0 out of 5 stars great film with a great cast!
This is one of the best films from Hollywood's heyday! Comedy and Drama perfectly blended together by a great director and a stellar cast. Read more
Published on Nov 18 2000 by "nataliesnumber1fan"
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