Dinner at Eight

Dinner at Eight (1933)

Genres - Drama  |   Sub-Genres - Ensemble Film, Sophisticated Comedy  |   Release Date - Feb 10, 2013 (USA - Unknown)  |   Run Time - 113 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

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.

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Keywords

party, aristocracy, city, diner, dinner-party, double-cross, extramarital-affair, guest, high-society, plans, socialite, society, suicide, upward-mobility