A lot of fun.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

An early film from George Cukor from the 30's. More a filmed stage play than a piece of celluloid. The character appearances are more like stage entries than camera set-ups but what can you do when the early days of cinema were the beginnings of a learning curve of what could be done rather than what could not. Anyway, a dinner date is coming up & the various ho-polloi of the New York upper-crust are meeting for a meal. Various story lines are told w/o anything resembling depth & the cast is more than up to snuff for the cause. Wallace Beery & Jean Harlow are fantastic as the bickering couple, we get 2 Barrymore's (John & Lionel, Drew's grandfather & great uncle) & the priceless Marie Dressler who steals the show as a once grand dame of the stage now having to deal w/actual life.

DINNER AT EIGHT is a serious comedy drama. Hard for me to choose another description. The film shows a set of relationships in people's lives. Given the circumstances of such relationships can be real. Usually the tragicomic.The essence is incorporated in two segments. The existential and emotional. They are very close no matter how separated them. From a different perspective, this thesis would be proved correct. This movie is worth a look. Relationships are intertwined in a tragicomic story. Comedy and tragedy alternate in such continuity that the viewer realizes that nothing other than mild collapse will not happen. The collapse did not begin or end, it is the continuation of what is already known. With her existentially and emotionally evolved and continues.The acting is pretty good. Marie Dressler (Carlotta Vance)was very good. It is a kind of link in the story. Lionel and John Barrymore (Oliver Jordan & Larry Renoult) can not be bad. They just good actors. Berry and Harlow (Dan and Kitty Packard) are incredibly entertaining. Dan acting stupidly next to Kitty. Kitty is the contemplation digger and probably naked under her dress. Billie Burke (Millicent Jordan) is in a good part of the film quite tiring.In this film, the concept is clearly outclassed. Comedy and tragedy go in pairs. In this film, people should recognize. Humor, which predominates, is enveloped in one deceptive veil of inevitable tragedy that surrounds life. Honestly, I'm not thrilled as much as I thought I would be.

MGM billed this film as bigger than "Grand Hotel." It was obviously trying to build on the huge success of its1932 blockbuster. Much of the same all-star cast appears in both films. Notable exceptions are Greta Garbo in the first, and Marie Dressler in this second film. Both also are lavish productions. But, where Hotel was a drama-romance, Dinner is billed as a comedy-drama. I think the comedy is in subtle and sparse locations, and that Dinner is much more serious. The variety of characters provide for fine melodrama. The huge cast of notable actors carries the film. This is a movie about business, class, society, selfishness, irresponsibility, sacrifice, love, infidelity, dislike, pride, snobbery, deceit, success and failure. Few of the characters are likable. Even fewer are decent, honest folks. "Dinner at Eight" is a story of many smaller plots that all revolve around the Jordan's dinner. The plot is interesting and it has a solid good ending – when dinner is served at eight. It is a nice study of many characters and their flaws. It is worth watching for the cast alone.

What a charming, witty classic. The thin veneer of Park Avenue society is crumbling in hard economic times. So many of the characters are struggling financially and each, in their own way, is hoping for their next dollar. Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore) hopes to be saved from financial ruin by mining magnate Dan Packard (Wallace Beery). Packard hopes to profit from misery by buying a majority shareholding in Jordan's company. Fading actress Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler) has returned to New York to see who she can hit for a bit of cash to fund her lifestyle. Failing alcoholic actor Larry Renault (John Barrymore) is desperately grasping at his next role, but doesn't make the cut and the consequences are tragic (if a little melodramatic). Millicent Jordan (Billy Burke) focuses on the kind of dinner party trivialities that are important to a society matron to amusing effect. Jean Harlow does a marvelous job as the dumb but beautiful trophy wife Kitty Packard. Dialogue, acting and comic timing is impeccable. There are some beautifully observed moments - especially with the maids and cooks (servants) of the rich folk. Marie Dressler gets the funniest lines by far - but Harlow and Burke come a close second in showing their comedy credentials. I was so pleasantly surprised with this one - a sparkly diamond of 1930s Hollywood.