Other Titles • Dinner at Eight • Freitag abends um acht (1933)
Synopses for Dinner at Eight (1933)
1.
This poignant 1930s comedy features nearly flawless performances by an all-star cast under the deft direction of George Cukor. Based on the successful play by Edna Ferber and George Kaufman, DINNER AT EIGHT is the tale of a socially scheming Park Avenue hostess (Billie Burke) who performs a series of clever manipulations to bring about a dinner party for an aristocratic English couple. In the process, she largely ignores the troubles facing her ailing husband (Lionel Barrymore); unwittingly, her choice of guests creates a web of intrigue, malice, and romance. Jean Harlow is exceptional as the shrewd wife of Billie's business adversary, as is John Barrymore, in a powerful, somewhat autobiographical turn as a fading star who drinks his future away. Silent-film performer Marie Dressler made a comeback in the role of the aging stage actress Carlotta.
2.
Dinner At Eight, a vastly entertaining behind-closed-doors glimpse into the lives of the troubled and troublemaking Who's Who of people invited to a posh Manhattan party, is served with ample helpings of humor and melodrama. Buoyed by the success of the studio's multistarred, multistored Grand Hotel the year before, producer David O. Selznick aspired for something grander-and found it in this George Cukor-directed adaptation of the George S. Kaufman/Edna Ferber stage hit.
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