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As an aspiring New York socialite prepares for a lavish dinner party, her guests find themselves consumed by a tangle of business, romantic, and personal crises - all of which come to a head on the big night.

In this comedic drama, an ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver (Lionel Barrymore), contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard (Wallace Beery) and his sultry spouse, Kitty (Jean Harlow), contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.—FilmsNow

A sparkling ensemble cast-led by Jean Harlow, Lionel and John Barrymore, Marie Dressler, and Wallace Beery-lights up this quippy pre-Code tale of drawing room intrigue based on a play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. As an aspiring New York socialite prepares for a lavish dinner party, her guests find themselves consumed by a tangle of business, romantic, and personal crises-all of which come to a head on the big night. Masterfully directed by George Cukor and produced by David O. Selznick with his typical obsessive commitment to quality, DINNER AT EIGHT is a scintillating showcase for a stable of larger-than-life stars.—Anonymous

Millicent Jordan is preoccupied with the plans she is making for a high-class dinner party. Her husband Oliver is in failing health, and he is also worried because someone is trying to buy up the stock in his shipping business--even his old friend Carlotta wants to sell her stock. Hoping to get help from businessman Dan Packard, he persuades Millicent, against her wishes, to invite Packard and his wife to the dinner. As Oliver's problems get worse, Millicent is increasingly quick-tempered because the plans for the party are not going smoothly. As the time for the dinner approaches, it appears that the hosts and the guests all have plenty on their minds.—Snow Leopard

One week before her next society dinner, Millicent Jordan receives word that Lord and Lady Ferncliffe, whom she and her husband Oliver, a New York shipping magnate, had met in England the previous year, have accepted her invitation. Overjoyed by this social coup, Millicent is oblivious to Oliver's lack of enthusiasm about the dinner and her daughter Paula's preoccupation about the impending return of her fiancé, Ernest DeGraff, from Europe. While Millicent fusses about finding an "extra man" for her single female guest, former stage star Carlotta Vance, Oliver faces distressing news about his shipping business, which has been struck hard by the Depression. After Carlotta, a former lover of Oliver who resides in Europe, confesses to Oliver in his office that she is nearly broke and is interested in selling her stock in the Jordan Shipping Line, Oliver is visited by Dan Packard, a rough-talking, nouveau-riche mining magnate. Oliver confides in Dan about his financial struggles and asks him to take over some of his stocks until his business improves. With blustering hesitation, Dan agrees only to consider Oliver's proposition, then goes home to brag to his brassy, gold digger wife Kitty that the Jordan Line is a valuable asset that he is going to devour through crooked stock purchases. Unknown to Dan, however, Oliver has convinced Millicent to invite the Packards to her dinner, and the ill-mannered but socially ambitious Kitty eagerly has accepted. Although he at first refuses to go, Dan, who believes that he will soon be appointed to a Cabinet post, changes his mind about the dinner when he finds out that the Ferncliffes, the richest couple in England, are also invited. Also unknown to Dan, one of Millicent's other guests, Dr. Wayne Talbot, has been having an affair with Kitty while pretending to be tending to her feigned illnesses. On the eve of her dinner, Millicent, still short an extra man, telephones Larry Renault, a washed-up silent movie star, and extends him a last-minute invitation, completely unaware that Paula is having a clandestine love affair with him. At Paula's urging, Larry, a three-time divorcé and hardened alcoholic, accepts the invitation, but advises the much younger Paula to forget about him and return to Ernest. After Paula stubbornly refuses to take Larry's admonitions seriously, she is seen leaving his room by Carlotta, who is residing at the same hotel. Later that evening, Larry is visited by his agent, Max Kane, who tells him that the stage play he was planning to star in has lost its orginal producer. Max breaks the news to Larry that the play's new producer, Jo Stengel, wants another actor in the lead but is willing to consider him in a bit part. Although crushed, Larry agrees to think about the offer, then desperately sends a bellboy to pawn a few of his possessions and buy a fresh bottle of alcohol. The next day, Talbot is discovered by his wife Lucy in a compromising telephone call with Kitty and confesses that, in spite of his love for her, he is addicted to women and needs help to overcome his weakness. Talbot then is rushed to see Oliver, who has come to the doctor's office with severe chest pains. Although Talbot tries to hide his prognosis of terminal thrombosis of the heart, Oliver wisely deduces the seriousness of his illness. When he returns home, the weakened Oliver tries to explain to Millicent his need for rest, but she is too hysterical to hear because, among other minor disasters, the Ferncliffes have cancelled and are on their way to Florida. Although anxious to tell Millicent about Larry, Paula, too, is turned away by her upset mother and faces the prospect of facing Ernest alone. At the Packards, meanwhile, Kitty reveals to Dan in a fit of anger that she is having an affair. When threatened with divorce, however, Kitty tells her husband that, if he wants his Cabinet appointment instead of a career-stopping revelation from her about his crooked dealings, he must back down from his takeover of Oliver's line and treat her with more respect. Just before he is to leave for the dinner, Larry is visited by Max and Stengel and drunkenly berates Stengel for insulting him with his paltry offer. After a frustrated Max denounces him for ruining his last career chance and the hotel management asks him to leave, Larry quietly turns on his gas fireplace and commits suicide. At the ill-fated dinner, Carlotta confides in private with Paula, who is just about to break her engagement with Ernest, about Larry's demise and counsels the young woman to stay with her fiancé. At the same time, Millicent learns from Talbot about Oliver's illness. Finally awakened to her selfishness, Millicent announces to Oliver that she is ready to make sacrifices for the family and be a more attentive wife. Then, as the beleagured guests are about to go in to dinner, Dan, with prodding from Kitty, tells Oliver that he has put a stop to the "secret" takeover of the Jordan shipping line.