"Grand Hotel" (1932) pioneered the concept of an ensemble cast with all the leading roles played by established MGM stars. The film went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. The great critical and financial success of "Grand Hotel" inspired "Dinner at Eight", another extravagant MGM movie with an 'all star' cast.

Three stars appear in both films; the Barrymore brothers John and Lionel, and Wallace Beery. The characters of the actors were also similar in both films. Lionel is lovable but very ill, John is a wastrel gone broke, and Beery is a grasping, detestable tycoon. Greta Garbo was the star of "Grand Hotel". The leading actress at the time, she doesn't appear in the film, but her name is dropped several times (Billy Burke plays a 'Garbo widow', so called because her husband spends every evening at a movie theater.)

"Dinner at Eight" begins as a comedy, but soon is awash in melodrama. Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke, best known as the 'good witch' in "The Wizard of Oz") is a socialite obsessed with organizing a dinner party for some English blue bloods. Her genial husband Oliver (Lionel Barrymore) asks her to invite the Packards, whom he hopes will bail out his failing shipping business. Dan Packard (Beery) is a ruthless, unethical investor; his wife is spoiled tramp Kitty (Jean Harlow). The Jordans have a 19 year old daughter (Madge Evans) with a dull fiance (Phillips Holmes); she prefers an alcoholic, faded film star from the silent era (John Barrymore) who is twice her age.

Staying with the Jordans is Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler), an elderly actress who has lived a full life. Dressler's talent for comic timing made her one of the most popular actresses of the era, even though she looked and sounded like she should be cast as a foil for Groucho Marx. She received top billing, even ahead of John Barrymore. Unfortunately, she would die of cancer in the following year, 1934.

John Barrymore's role had eerie parallels to his own life. Both became alcoholic, went through several wives, and saw their acting careers ruined. His character is even referred to as 'The Great Profile', which was John's billing. Barrymore's career was at its peak at the time of "Dinner at Eight", but would be in decline thereafter.

Despite box office success, "Dinner at Eight" was not nominated for any Academy Awards. The film is considered to be a classic today, especially praised for the performances of Dressler and Harlow. The lurid plot is full of adultery, gold digging, and shady business deals. Such a story could not be filmed within a few years, when censors were given power to enforce the strict, moralistic Hays code.

The people behind "Dinner at Eight" were among the most successful in Hollywood. George Cukor was director, David O. Selznick was producer, and the writers include many playwright and screenplay legends. Still, the film doesn't age well (compare with Cukor's "Little Women" from the same year). John Barrymore's character wallows in pathos, and is wildly inconsistent. At first, he's a gentleman, admirably and eloquently telling Evans that he's no good for her. But soon he is a completely desperate alcoholic. It is difficult to sympathize with Burke's travails over her dinner party, while Beery's boasting and Harlow's cattiness lose credibility. It seems unlikely that Harlow would stop her husband's profitable takeover just because she was invited to a swell party. The script also veers from comedy to drama, and seems sometimes confuses which is which (is the story about the fighting servants supposed to be funny?). However, Dressler's lines may be worth the effort of seeing this overrated classic from the early sound era. (59/100)



Recommended:
Yes