Dinner at Eight (1933)

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Frances Marion (screenplay) and
Herman J. Mankiewicz (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 January 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Social climbing Millicent and Oliver Jordan throw a dinner for a bunch of New York society types, each of whom has much to reveal.

Plot Keywords:

Time For Title | Ensemble Cast | Actor | Actress | Blackmail

Cast

Marie Dressler	...	Carlotta Vance
John Barrymore	...	Larry Renault
Wallace Beery	...	Dan Packard
Jean Harlow	...	Kitty Packard
Lionel Barrymore	...	Oliver Jordan
Lee Tracy	...	Max Kane
Edmund Lowe	...	Dr. Wayne Talbot
Billie Burke	...	Millicent Jordan
Madge Evans	...	Paula Jordan
Jean Hersholt	...	Jo Stengel
Karen Morley	...	Mrs. Lucy Talbot
Louise Closser Hale	...	Hattie Loomis
Phillips Holmes	...	Ernest DeGraff
May Robson	...	Mrs. Wendel (cook)
Grant Mitchell	...	Ed Loomis

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Canada:G (video rating)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

As originally filmed, Carlotta's dog was named Mussolini but due to changing political climate, his name was post-dubbed as Tarzan, even though Marie Dressler's lips are clearly saying the first name.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Carlotta Vance first tells Oliver that the sold her Jordan Shipping stock, she says that it was bought by a "Mr. Baldridge". However in the next scene, when Oliver goes to the phone to call another stockholder to see if he'd sold his stock too, she remarks that she hoped Oliver wasn't angry that she'd sold the stock to "Mr. Bainbridge".

Quotes:

Millicent Jordan: You're joking! Ask that common little woman to the house with that noisy, vulgar man? He smells Oklahoma!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Some of the Best (1949)

Soundtrack:

I Loved You Then (As I Love You Now)

a golden oldie

What a cast - MGM's finest in a series of vignettes leading up to Mrs Jordan's dinner party (which we never actually see). Jean Harlow is at her wisecracking best and her most stunning; Marie Dressler and John Barrymore are terrific as washed-up actors; everyone is just excellent. Everything that can possibly go wrong does - you can't help but sympathise as Billie Burke's Mrs Jordan gradually gets more and more ruffled by the day's events. Some great one liners and yet another excellent entry on Cukor's CV.