Rating: NR
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Release Date: 03/01/2005
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 111 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Based on the Broadway hit by
George S. Kaufman and
Edna Ferber,
Dinner at Eight is a near-flawless comedy/drama with an all-star cast at the peak of their talents. Social butterfly Mrs. Oliver Jordan (
Billie Burke) arranges a dinner party that will benefit the busines of her husband (
Lionel Barrymore). Among the invited are a crooked executive (
Wallace Beery), who is in the process of ruining Jordan; his wife (
Jean Harlow), who is carrying on an affair with a doctor (
Edmund Lowe); a fading matinee idol (
John Barrymore), who has squandered his fortune on liquor and is romantically involved with the Jordan daughter (
Madge Evans); and a venerable stage actress (
Marie Dressler), who since losing all her money has become a "professional guest." Nothing goes as planned, due to various suicides, double-crosses, compromises, fatal illness, and servant problems. But dinner is served precisely at eight. The script by
Herman Mankiewicz,
Frances Marion, and
Donald Ogden Stewart is a virtual enclyopedia of witty lines and scenes, right down to the unforgettable closing gag.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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