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
(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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