Friday, February 02, 2018

Dinner at Eight (1933)

Film: Dinner at Eight (1933)
Stars: Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Madge Evans, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, John Barrymore
Director: George Cukor
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

In a quest to prepare for 31 Days of Oscar, I have been trying to quickly and efficiently view as many movies from my DVR as is physically possible (every year this is an uphill battle, every year one that I lose).  As a result, you'll be seeing a lot of obscure Oscar nominees on this blog in the coming weeks as I progress through the Oscar Viewing Project & 31 Days in a fight to see what day I actually run out of space.  Weirdly, though the first film that I decided to watch lounging on my DVR wasn't an Oscar nominee, but simply a movie that I have long wanted to see, and in a signficant moment for my cinematic viewing career, the first time I have ever seen a Jean Harlow picture.

(Spoilers Ahead) Dinner at Eight is the sort of movie that doesn't get made today, and quite frankly doesn't really have an obvious evolutionary successor in movies today either.  An all-star film, it is littered with fine theatrical performers (the Barrymores, Dressler, Burke), and is the sort of drama that plays largely like a comedy because everyone is so eloquent.  Centered around a dinner party that Millicent Jordan (Burke) is throwing for a noble couple that are visiting from England, we see all of her guests, as well as her ailing husband Oliver (Lionel Barrymore), encounter struggles during the height of the depression.  It's a very serious film when taken on the surface, but these actors are so eloquent and frequently witty (particularly Dressler & Harlow) that there's enough comic relief so you'll be forgiven into thinking that it's a dramedy of sorts.

Honestly-it's a very well-done movie, one that I'm surprised didn't get more Oscar love (in an era where supporting performances were crowned it's impossible to think that some of these people wouldn't have been nominees), particularly considering it's nearly the equal of Grand Hotel the previous year (it's been a few years, but I think I favor the Best Picture winner just slightly over this one).  The film is less a cohesive plot and more a series of acting duets between the principle players, as we learn more about them.  It's very well-written, and you leave without a proper villain (Wallace Beery comes the closest as a gruff businessman, but even he gives an understanding of wanting to stick it to people who simply didn't want his success because of where he grew up), but instead a sharp understanding of these characters.  It's surprisingly thorough-no one goes into cartoon-mode, and there's more than room for such a fare (I suspect on the stage that actors would lean a bit more heavily into their stereotypes).

Look at the way that Harlow finds a courage in her trophy wife as the film progresses, essentially blackmailing her husband into a better life for both of them.  Dressler, who can be truly hammy, shows her cards early and plays her Carlotta as a woman who is scared not only of being broke, but perhaps more so of being a joke, someone who was taken seriously and is now on the outskirts of her life.  Perhaps best of all is John Barrymore, who courageously plays an actor who is starting to be washed-up and perhaps being outdone by those around him who were more talented than handsome.  It's a small part (in one of several ironies in the film, he's an actor complaining about how small his part in a play is), and one that borrows quite a bit from reality (Barrymore's struggles with booze, age, and his then faltering matinee idol status feels a bit reality-inspiring-art), but it's terrific work.  His final scenes are harrowing, as we realize that he can't bounce back to who he once was, and to paraphrase The Hours, "he has to die so the others can appreciate life more."  The film itself is a jewel, and while it's hard to adjust to melodrama when you're not used to it, once you do you find that this film's "forgotten classic" status is more than earned.

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